We were Soldiers
by xXChrisdabeastXx
Summary: The battle of Manhattan was said to have some of the fiercest fighting of the nearly thirty year long war. Experience it from the eyes of many different soldiers as they go through hell on Earth. Please R&R. Epilogue is UP!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

October 20, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

Nexus, Auragis System

Nexus was a very desolate planet, no bigger then the size of Pluto. It was the back water planet of the Inner Colonies, and it had good reason to be. It was pretty much 90% desert, with only a small ocean and an even smaller forest area. The planets reminded many people of an old western town you would see in movies hundreds of years ago; the type where an outlaw would come into town and wreck havoc among the townsfolk, then some lone cowboy would come in and defeat the outlaw. Nexus was almost like that with multiple small towns strewn out over the entire planet, and many escaped convicts, and yet to be captured criminals hid here. If you wanted to hide somewhere and not be found for a very long time, then Nexus was the place to go.

When the Covenant set their sights on Nexus as their next target, many people questioned was their even a need to send a UNSC force to try to defend the planet. Many people (mainly rich people from the richer inner colonies) even pointed out that by letting the Covenant glass the planet, they would be doing the humanity a favor by getting rid of some of the galaxies most feared criminals and outlaws. But they forget to remember that their were still innocents on Nexus. Minus the couple thousand of outlaws and criminals, Nexus had a civilian population of about twenty thousand strewn throughout the desolate planet.

So the UNSC had to send some protection for them. That came in the form of two UNSC Frigates, the _Barack Obama _and the _Marlow_. The _Obama _had the battle groups marine contingent consisting of about a battalions worth of troops. It also carried the majority of the marines support weapons, the heavy artillery, tanks, and dropships. The _Marlow_ carried the task forces elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, ODST for short. These were the UNSC's elite shock troopers who had a special way of entering the fray. They went feet first in their HEV pods, and would land literally on top of an enemy position and engage almost instantly. This mode of transportation is however dangerous with a high possibility of your pod failing and the unlucky trooper plummeting to the planet to his/her death. That's how the ODST got their nickname Helljumpers, because they were literally dropping into hell on some of their engagements.

On this particular engagement though, the Helljumpers had gone down to Nexus in Pelican Dropships, as the Covenant had not yet arrived to the planet they were still on the other side of the system. The marines on the ground quickly set up defenses around the major towns and cities, and waited for the covenants inevitable attack.

The attack came a few days later in the form of three Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser. The ships rolled on into orbit around Nexus and engaged the two frigates. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned the _Obama_ and the _Marlow_ led by Captain Morgan, a veteran and survivor of the Reach campaign, were able to destroy one and cripple another ship by using a combination of Archer missiles, the ships MAC gun, and using Nexus's orbit as a way to slingshot themselves around and take the Covenant taskforce by surprise. Despite this rare win in space, the _Obama _had been severely crippled and the last remaining Covenant cruiser had been able to get into Nexus's atmosphere and unloaded it's troops and equipment into the Valhalla Desert, the area with the most populated city, Rio with a population of 3,000. So for two days the covenants has been pressing on the city but have been being repulsed by the marines stationed around there. Somewhere up the line in rank someone decided that the UNSC needed to counter attack, and that the Helljumpers were the perfect candidate for that job. So the ODST have been hitting the covenant where it hurts, in commando style raids, blowing up fuel depots, hitting supply lines, and knocking out anti- air weapons. These attacks delayed the Covenant but they would still press hard with there superior numbers and technology. It was only a matter of time before they completely defeated the marines, but marines never gave up and they kept on fighting despite the odds.

Seven miles west of Rio, two ODST lay motionless on a hill overlooking the vast desert. It wasn't much of a hill though just a rocky outcropping with slight underbrush and a few dead trees sticking out of the sweltering rocks. Private first class Ricky Li lay as still as a statue, at first glance you would of thought he was dead, but he wasn't, he had just been thoroughly trained in sniper school and taught how to relax your muscles to the point of total stillness. His partner wasn't as graceful and quiet. Corporal Jacen Cole turned in his sleep, and slowly recoiled back into his fetal position. Ricky smiled as he watched his team mate cradle his BR55HB SR Battle Rifle like it was a teddy bear.

Ricky was surprised at how easily his friend had fallen asleep when they had set up this post not an hour before. In the distance, he could hear the sound of plasma bombardments, probably on marines' positions near Rio, answered by the constant thump thump thump of UNSC heavy artillery shooting back at potential targets. One had to wonder how anyone could fall asleep with noise like that going off, but most UNSC personnel knew that most infantry men learned to fall asleep with the noise after their first engagement.

While Jacen snored on Ricky peered trough his scope again, looking at their target, a black rectangular one story building, that the team suspected was a Covenant weapons cache. Ricky relaxed and pulled his opaque visor away from the scope. A dragonfly had landed on the top of the scope. He smiled and put out his index finger, the dragonfly crawled off the scope onto his finger. The sniper slowly pulled back his hand until the insect was at eye level with him. Seeing things like this reminded him of his home country of China back on Earth. It had been so long since he's seen it.

Suddenly the dragonfly flew away. Ricky watched its flight until it was out of sight. He then noticed movement at the entrance to the building. Two red armored Elites stood at the entrance conversing. The eight foot tall split jawed monsters were the higher ranked of the Covenant military. They led the lowly grunts and the shield using jackals.

Ricky nudged his partner, "Yo Jace, we got contacts."

Jacen Cole awoke suddenly rolling from his back onto his stomach, using his elbows he perched himself up and viewed through his BR's scope, "hhmm split jaws eh?"

"Yup," Ricky replied, as he keyed squad comm., "Sergeant Fenix, this is PFC Li here, I got two tangos down at the target building, what are your orders?"

There was a couple second pause then came the gruff voice of there CO Sergeant Fenix, "Li you have the green light to engage targets, we will move in on your go."

"Yessir," Ricky retorted back, he made an adjustment on his scope, before going into what he liked to call his "sniper trance." He would enter a state where it was just him, his sniper and his targets.

"Wind 3.8 miles southwest, mark velocity 7.8 kilometers per an hour," he said to Jace, though Jace had little to no clue what he was talking about. Jacen was filling in as Ricky's temporary spotter. They had lost their other spotter a day before; it had hit the whole team hard.

"Taking the shot," Ricky said slowly pulling back the trigger. BOOM! Despite his SRS99D-S2 AM being silenced, the sniper rifle still was pretty loud. Jace watched as the Elites head on the right disappeared in a cloud of purple mist, before he could even blink again the other elite was thrown back into the wall of the building, courtesy of a round through the body.

"Alright team, targets are neutralized, you have the green light on infiltration."

About a hundred yards ahead of them, about fifty yards from the target building, three black figures came out from under their tan colored tarps, making it seem as if they had risen out of the sand, and approached the building.

"Squad stack up," Sergeant Fenix ordered, as the ODST stacked up on the left side of the door. Alex Lombardi, the teams demo man, gave a hard kick to the headless Elite before setting an explosive charge on the door and stacking up with the rest of the team.. "On one we go," Barked Fenix as he pulled the stock back on his MA5C Assault Rifle.

"Three."

"Two."

"One, go go!" the explosive charge detonated sending the door crumbling inward, the Helljumpers filed through. Over the comm. Jace and Ricky could hear the sounds of gunfire and the squeals and shrieks of startled Grunts. The whole thing must've lasted only ten seconds.

"Room clear!" Lombardi yelled, "And take a look at this sir."

"Jackpot," said Fenix in a surprisingly happy voice, he keyed the comm. "Cole, Li looks like ONI was right for once on their Intel. This place is packed from wall to wall with Covenant weapons, needlers, plasma rifles, plasma pistols and even a couple fuel rod guns."

"Nice to know the spooks didn't fuck up this time," said Jace to Ricky, but Ricky wasn't listening; he was eyeing an approaching dust cloud from the east. "Ugh sir, we got a problem."

That problem was in the form of a Malevolent. The Malevolent was the purple upgraded version of the Shadow transport. It could carry up to a dozen passengers plus two crew members. It was armed with an over the top plasma turret.

The Malevolent slowed outside the weapons cache, "Sergeant Fenix we got a covenant troop transport outside," Ricky reported in.

"Roger we will dig in a hold out, reinforcements are en route," Replied Fenix.

The back ramp of the Malevolent dropped too the ground and out came about a dozen grunts came out the back armed with plasma pistols. Out of the drivers seat came two elites, another red armored one and a golden armored Zealot. At the sight of their two dead comrades the Zealot ordered the major elite to take half the grunts and retake the facility while it kept guard here with the rest.

Ricky took the first shot, hitting the Zealot right in the chest, nothing. Jace followed suit putting a burst in the golden armored elites head. The Zealots head snapped back by the force of the impact and its shields flared and dissipated. The Elite hit the dirt and rolled out of Jace's line of fire. He swore and got out of his prone position and into a crouching position.

"You take out split lip, ill handle the smaller guys," Jacen said peering through the scope of his BR55. He began firing in three round burst at the grunts, who in turn ducked and ran for cover behind the Malevolent. A few got of a couple shots from their plasma pistol but the majority were dead. The Zealot popped its head up and fired a shot from its carbine. The green bolt sizzled and burned though a dead tree near Jace's head causing him to duck for cover. Ricky returned fire, but the shot bounced of the purple armor of the Malevolent.

There was a lull in the fighting for a few moments before, a grunt came from behind the armor carrier wielding two shiny blue spheres, it was making a beeline straight for their position. "Shit he's got plasma grenades!" Jace yelled getting back up. He sighted on the grunt, and before it could get a hundred yards he put a burst right into its head, the plasma grenades fell next to it, and detonated. Igniting the grunts methane tank and causing it to vaporize into nothing.

The Elite had sent the grunt out as a distraction while it mounted the malevolent turret and fired towards the rocky outcropping. Blue plasma washed all over the rocks and trees, Jace ducked back down to avoid it. Ricky however didn't move an inch. He went into his sniper trance again, and fired. The shell went straight and true leaving a white vapor trail in its wake. The shells hit the Malevolents armor, ricochet off of it and hit the Zealot in the head sending it rag dolling into the air and landing with a thump in the sand.

Jace was in complete shock, he looked over to Ricky, who he knew had to be smiling under that visor, and asked, "How the hell do you pull shit like that off?" Ricky shrugged and replied, "Lucky shot, I guess."

"PFF lucky shot my ass, you know you could at least admit you actually do this stuff on purpose," Ricky just chuckled.

"Sergeant Fenix targets are neutralized out here," Jace reported in. After a few gunshots Fenix said, "It's all clear here too, though Torres took a burn to the shoulder armor." In the back ground he heard PFC Torres say, "I'm ok Jace just a lil burn that's all."

"Cole and Li, report to our position while we wait for pickup," ordered Fenix.

"Yessir," The two Helljumpers barked in unison. They began the walk to the building a few hundred yards away. As they approached they saw that the rest of their squad was waiting outside. Sergeant Fenix had his helmet off and was leaning against the wall of the building.

Sergeant Carter Fenix looked like one of those marines you would see in recruitment posters. He had close cropped brown hair, a chiseled face with a scar running from under his right eye to his mouth, courtesy of a elites energy sword during the Reach campaign.

"Glad to see you boys made it, nice work out here" Fenix said nodding over to the dead grunts and elites.

"You know sir short work makes good work," Said Ricky smugly.

"Hmm that's easy for you to say, being hundreds of yards from your target while others are only a few yards from there's'," said Lombardi, Lombardi was the short tempered one of the squad, something an explosives expert shouldn't, but he was pretty damn good at his job and he would cover your ass any day.

"Take it easy Lombardi, you lug, Ricky there does just as good of a job as we do at close range," said Ellie Torres in a soothing voice. Ellie had a knack of always getting the guys in the squad to stop bickering, which they did a lot, so much that the guys referred to her as "mom", much to her chagrin.

A shadow enveloped the group and they looked up to see two D77H-TCI, or more commonly known as Pelicans, hover over them and slowly descend into a landing.

The Helljumpers moved out of the way as sand was kicked up in every direction. One of the Pelicans had an extra troop transport in the back. The other landed and out came about a dozen ODST. One in particular had the two silver bars of a Marine Captain.

"Captain Van Zandt, welcome to the suck," said Sergeant Fenix shaking the Captains hand. Van Zandt was another "perfect" marine. He was also one of the oldest any of them had ever seen to actually lead his troops at the front.

"Very good, on getting this weapons cache sergeant, I can tell by the dead covvie bastards that you did a number here," Van Zandt said with a smile, one of the rare times he does smile.

"It was no issue at all sir and we found the Covenants weapons and they are all ready nice and stacked and ready to go," Fenix gruffly said.

The captain tussled with his close crop gray hair and said, "Well that's good, we will just load these weapons up and head back to the _Marlow_."

"What!" the entire squad said in unison.

"Command has ordered that the entire ground force to be evacuated along with any remaining civilians, we are just gonna nuke the damn place" Van Zandt said with a hint of anger in his voice.

It was Sergeant Fenix that responded, "But sir, we were just making head way with this counter attack and we already lost so many good men, why leave now when we got the Covenant on the ropes."

Van Zandt looked Fenix directly in the eye, "Because Earth is under attack."

There was a good few seconds of silence before Fenix asked, "How did they find it?"

The captain shook his head, "I don't know, a fleet of about thirteen ships appeared a few hours ago, the home fleet engaged them and were able to destroy a few of them but a Assault Carrier slipped by them and landed in New Mombassa. Captain Morgan has ordered the withdrawal of all UNSC ground personnel, we are to report to the _Marlow_ by 0100 hours from now, from there we are linking up with the 8th Fleet and we are heading to Earth, boys and girls this is gonna be one of the biggest fights since Reach and a lot of us aren't gonna make it, but we are Helljumpers and we can take it and we can dish it out!"

With that the surrounding Helljumpers let out an Orahh! And boarded the Pelicans.

As they were making the trip through the upper atmosphere, Jace noticed Ricky take his helmet off and rest it on his lap. The right side of his helmet was covered in tally marks. Ricky took out his combat knife and etched in another three marks. This is something he had been doing since the death of Weathers a couple days ago. Weathers had been killed by an Elite with an energy sword. After his death Ricky vowed to kill as many Elites as he possibly could, so far in that few day span since then he had killed fourteen, now eighteen.

Jace eyed the tally marks counting eighteen, and thought they were gonna get revenge for Weathers and they were gonna do it on their home turf. A smile developed on his face but quickly vanished when he realized that if Earth, humanities last bastion of hope, was under attack then that meant this could be the end of humanity as it stands. He didn't dwell on the thought to long though, putting his head against the bulkhead of the pelican he slowly went into a deep sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Orbit around Earth, Sol System**

Captain William Morgan braced himself in his command chair as the _Marlow _came out of slipspace. He gazed out the view port to see the battered home fleet, drifting around in Earth's orbit. Debris from many frigates and destroyers lingered around the space, some burning up as they entered Earth's atmosphere. Also among the debris were the remains of many Covenant Cruisers; with their unique purple hull they were easy to tell apart from the gray or black UNSC ships.

Morgan eyed the home fleet again. Dozens of the ships seemed to just be drifting in random vectors as if not sure what to do. Morgan knew that one of the Covenants Assault Carriers got past the defenses, and had been hovering over New Mombassa. He had also heard that the ship had made a slipspace jump _in the city_; it had destroyed quite a bit of the infrastructure of Mombassa. He had also heard that Commander Keyes; the daughter of famous Navy Captain, the late Jacob Keyes, had followed the Carrier, with her ship _The In Amber Clad _ through the slipspace portal to some unknown destination. Morgan had to admit that took some balls on her part.

"So what do we do Captain, doesn't seem like there's any Covenant to fight," said one of his young Lieutenants. Morgan had thought the same thing. Since this was the humans' home world he kind of expected a larger Covenant Fleet, not the fifteen ships that had attacked.

As if on cue with Morgan's thoughts, Admiral Price; the leader of the 8th Fleet, in which they were part of, spoke over Fleet comm. "Alright people, we just got word that over two dozen Covenant ships just jumped into system on the other side of the moon, prepare to engage, we got to give the home fleet some time to regroup so we will engage the Covenant when we see them."

"Right you heard the man, prepare to engage," Morgan said with renewed vigor. "Archer pods are cold. I'll need to re-key the system," his weapons officer reported.

Suddenly Admiral Price appeared on his view screen located above the bridge, snapping off a crisp salute Morgan barked, "Sir," Price returned the salute and said, "lets just cut to the chase Captain, the Covenant have deployed a ground force into New York City, now there's some 30 million people that live in that metropolis. Most escaped, sadly many didn't. The New York militia held out as long as they could but alas they were decimated."

Morgan was feeling the death of every one of those civilians and militiamen, but he kept his feelings bottled up inside as he responded, "Sir, what do you think the Covenant would want in NYC, why didn't they just glass the place?"

Price seemed to ponder the question for a few moments before responding, "I'm not sure Captain, but here's the problem. The Covenant has garrisoned the island city of Manhattan and they have set up a few AA emplacements in Brooklyn, so any chances at an air lift into the city to reclaim it are tarnished." Price looked Morgan directly in the eye when he spoke, "Captain your ship is the closest ship to Earth right now, the rest of the 8th fleet jumped out near the moon, I want you too get over New York and I want you too drop your complement of ODST into Brooklyn to knock out those AA emplacements, then your boys are to link up with the 501st Marine Infantry Division. After that, just wait for further orders."

"Yessir," Morgan said with a feeling of pride being asked to do the mission. Price returned the salute and disappeared off the view screen.

"Let's take those Helljumpers off ice," Morgan replied, he had wished he could have brought more ground support, but he had been ordered to pull out with only the ODST onboard. The rest of the ground forces from Nexus had hopped onto the _Barack Obama_, and had gone to one of the other inner colonies with the remaining civilians. Regardless he was ready for anything. And he was gonna fight like a mad man to defend Earth. "And plot a course for New York."

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Azo Kisamee strolled through the halls of the gigantic human structure, which his commander had designated as their command center. The building was the tallest in the odd human city. It was so tall it could be seen dozens of miles away.

When the Covenant arrived at the city a mere ten hours ago they saw that they would be fighting a hard urban battle, something not all Covenant warriors; especially the lowly Unggoy had not really trained for. On ground they were used to open space and room to maneuver their tanks and close air support with their banshee fliers.

The amount of human vehicles that were left behind by their citizens was so much, that a lot of their tanks couldn't penetrate into the heart of the city to support their ground forces. It was up to the Sangheili, Kig-Yar and Unggoy to search every building and eradicate any remaining humans. The humans using their home field advantage laid in wait and ambushed the patrols. Despite this though the humans that were defending the city weren't their normal warriors and Azo and the rest of the Covenant were able to defeat them in short time.

After that the remaining humans retreated back across a large bridge into what appeared to be another city. His Ship Master brought their ship, _The Tranquility _out of orbit and deployed a pair of AA guns into the city across the river, the one the humans called _Brooklyn_.

_What kind of name is that, Brooklyn; humans are very weird beings, _Azo thought to himself, but he respected them as warriors. Just as his people set down the AA guns the humans launched a trap by using one of their giant slug rounds and shot down the _Tranquility._ The ship had landed in the river between the two cities. Enraged a majority of the Covenant forces on the island city crossed into the other city and engaged the normal human warriors that they always fought. The ones in the gray and black fatigues, with the green armor covering part of their body, he had heard that they were called _Marines_.

The marines had fought on with renewed vigor and it was a long fight that hadn't even ended yet. At the very moment his Sangheili brothers and their subordinates were still battling the humans across the river for every yard. It was such a hard fight that his commander had asked for reinforcements. Reinforcements came in the way of Jiralhanae

controlled ships from the Fleet of Awesome Fury; a previously Sangheili controlled fleet.

Azo and his kind hated the Jiralhanae with a passion. The brute monsters were nothing but savages and barbarians. They had once gained some level of space faring technology, but the idiotic apes nuked themselves back into the Stone Age, when they were at war with one another. The Jiralhanae had always wanted to upstage the Sangheili and become the Prophets right hand, but Azo doubted they ever will be allowed too. Why the Hierarchs ever let those savages into the order of the Covenant; Azo would never know.

However, of late he's been hearing rumors that the Jiralhanae have been taking over Sangheili positions as the Honor Guard. Azo hadn't believed the rumors at first, but after seeing that the Fleet of Awesome Fury was now in Jiralhanae hands, he was starting to believe this as true.

Azo was a Special Operations Sangheili, Sangheili of this rank are extremely skilled warriors and are sent in to accomplish some of the most dangerous and difficult missions. Azo and his partner Huze 'Taham were both SpecOps Sangheili and they had just come from a mission across in the other human city, they still had some of the crimson human blood on their armor.

Azo turned to his friend and asked, "Why do you think Commander Karalee has asked that all the SpecOps come back to the command center?"

His friend was wearing the Special Operations Sangheili helmet, which covered the entirety of his head. Its main feature is a rounded plate around their forehead and head. It features a pair of orange goggle like lenses. Both mandibles are protected by an angular guard and features a neck ring to the back with a pair of lights on each side.

Huzes' voice was like water, and it was very soothing to hear, "I do not know brother, but I think it is something involving some meeting with the Brutes, vile creatures I hate them with a passion." Azo nodded, "As do I brother as do I."

Azo and Huze swaggered through the automatic doors into a large room. Towards the center of the room six of their Sangheili brothers, stood waiting impatiently. The SpecOps pair walked up to a golden armored Sangheili. "Field Master Karalee, we have arrived as requested," Huze said bowing before his commander; Azo followed suite.

"Good, now if our Jiralhanae friends could be on time," he sneered sarcastically, "Then we can get this meeting under way." Azo noticed that the room led out onto a landing pad.

A purple phantom Dropship appeared and hovered for a few minutes, its side doors opened and out hopped three large Jiralhanae. Two of the Jiralhanae were wearing the indigo armor of a bodyguard, the center Jiralhanae was much larger then the other two and he wore odd Crimson armor. From the hammer strapped to his back, Azo concluded that he was a chieftain. Azo also realized that the Jiralhnaes power armor seemed to be upgraded; those rumors must've been true. The Brutes were taking over.

As the trio of Brutes approached, Azo leaned in to talk to Karalee, "Sir, I've heard rumors that the Jiralhanae have been authorized by the High Prophet of Truth to take over as Honor Guard, they are also getting better armor and weapons, we should watch out for any treachery from these savages."

Karalee looked forward at the Chieftain as he spoke, "I know my brother, and I will make sure to keep an eye on them." The Brute Chieftain swaggered up to Karalee and grunted, "I am Dractus, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae and army commander of the Fleet of Awesome Fury."

"Are you the reinforcements I had asked for?" Karalee inquired. Dractus nodded, "I have already ordered my forces to spread out and take up garrison position within this human city." Karalee shook his head, "I need your warriors to go across to another human city and help mine eradicate the vermin there." Dractus sneered at Karalee, and put his hand on his hammer handle. Azo and the other Sangheili present put there hands for there swords but relaxed as Dractus put his hands up in mock surrender. Smiling he said, "Fine I'll send a quarter of my warriors over to assist, but the rest will stay here and garrison within the city."

Karalee nodded and the group dispersed. Azo walked along with Karalee and Huze. Karalee looked at Azo, "I want you and the rest of the SpecOps Sangheili to stay within the building, any sign Dractus is making a grab for power kill him and his Brutes."

Both Azo and Huze simply nodded. If worst came to worst he was ready.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**UNSC Marlow, Orbit around Earth, Sol System**

Jacen Cole stepped out of the Cryo Chamber he had been "resting" in for the last seventeen hours. He got out and stretched, pulling his muscles to their limit to get all the creaks and get blood circulating again. Around him the other ODST of his company did the same thing he did. Some stretching, others helped each other out, cracking jokes as some violently coughed up the fluid that they had breathed in to prevent their bodies from being damaged by the cold of frozen sleep. Others were cracking jokes about certain "parts" of other people's bodies.

That was the one problem with cryogenic sleep; you had to go in naked or risk being blistered when they emerge. Though a lot of the male crew members didn't seem to mind as they also got to see the women in their unit naked, much to the chagrin of the women.\

Jace grabbed his black jump suit that he had stored in front of his pod. As he was putting it on he couldn't help but notice Ellie as she came out of her chamber.

Ellie Torres was about 5'8 and had blonde hair that she cut to just above her shoulders. She had a body like a model too; something most women in combat don't have. Jace couldn't help but eye her over, he look at her from top to bottom. As he was about to look down below her waist, she remarked, "You know if you keep staring like that I'm going to have to start charging you."

Jace looked up quickly; blushing as he smiled back. Lombardi walked over to Jace and put a hand around his shoulder. "It's okay Jaccy; I was checking her out too," With a devilish smile he glanced at Ellie, "not much to look at though."

"Fuck you," Ellie replied giving him the finger. "Gladly mum, but after our mission, wouldn't want to tire you out before all the fighting." A couple ODST behind Jace chuckled at the come back, but stopped as they got a look from Jace.

Ellie looked as if she was about to hammer Lombardi, and she probably was about, but the arrival of Gunnery Sergeant Fenix; who was in already in full gear minus the helmet, stopped any further bickering.

"Helljumpers!" he yelled out in his parade ground voice; of which many of the troopers heard before, "Captain Van Zandt wants everyone in full gear and in the pod room in five minutes, you hear FIVE minutes." He put up his hand with all five fingers out to emphasize the time.

There was a rush as the sixty ODST of Alpha Company, 2nd Shock Troops Battalion, 105th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), went to adorn their ballistic battle armor.

The ODST body suit is made up of several different layers and materials, the inner layer of the black-gray under suit is made up of Kevlar material to aid in protecting the wearer from small arms fire, the inner layer also contains a heating and cooling system which regulates temperatures to keep the user warm or cool depending on the weather conditions - the heating and cooling system can also match infrared signatures of the current weather as well to allow an ODST to go undetected in hostile locations. The outer layer of the under suit is coated with a heat resistance material to aid in reducing temperatures experienced during orbital drop, and against Covenant Plasma Weapons. The outer shell layer is comprised of Titanium and Ceramic composite armor plating that covers the chest, shoulders, legs and feet.

Jace quickly found his; with the writing _Born 2 Kill_, inscribed on the center chest plate. Within five minutes every ODST was ready standing in the pod room; it was a sea of matte black with the occasional colored customized armor here and there. Some had their helmets on but most had their helmets cradled under their arm.

Jace stood between Ricky and Ellie as they waited. Captain Van Zandt leaned on the railing of a platform overlooking the Helljumpers, his battle armor looking scarred and charred from seeing much battle. The doors behind the Captain hissed and Captain Morgan, the CO of the _Marlow _swaggered up to the railing. With a booming voice he addressed the ODST present.

"Troopers hope you had a nice sleep," he waited as the Helljumpers nodded and cheered in approval, before continuing, "Right, the Covenant have attacked Earth as you all know, and they quickly burned through some of our defenses, they have set up shop in Manhattan and have dug in and garrisoned the hell out of the place, we can't move air support in to soften up the place for a ground assault because of the anti-air emplacements they've set up."

"Why not just have the ground forces move up into Manhattan without support?" asked Derrick Carmine; Weathers replacement they had scrounged up from HQ and somehow he got put with them in the time they had left Nexus.

"Half the buildings in Manhattan are as tall as a frigate is long, the Covenant probably have mortar and sniper positions in some of the taller sky scrapers, and without air support the ground forces would have a helluva time trying to take back the city," Morgan replied.

"Classic rookie mistake," Lombardi said with a hint of annoyance.

"Leave him alone Lombardi," Ellie said defending him, Lombardi put up his hands in mock surrender.

Carmine wasn't the most liked member of the squad. Due to the fact that he was a replacement for Weathers, neither Lombardi nor Li really like him, Jace didn't hate him, but he didn't really socialize with him given the fact he was more likely gonna die on this mission and he didn't want to grieve like he did for Weathers. The only person who really seemed to like him was Ellie, and that was just her "maternal instincts taking over," Lombardi so happily put it before getting a punch to the stomach from Ellie.

"Right, here's where you guys come in, I'm going to position the ship in orbit above New York city, you will drop into Brooklyn and knock out a pair of AA emplacements set up in the borough, squad and platoon leaders, you will have the AA marked in your VISR HUD," Morgan addressed to the many leaders of Alpha Company, who in turn nodded back, "Once those AA's have been knocked out you are to link up with the 501st Infantry Division, who are fighting in Brooklyn now, and await further orders, any questions?"

Not one person spoke up, "Good, then good hunting boys and girls, and may god be with you." With that Morgan turned and headed back to the bridge.

Jace was an Atheist, but the gesture still counted and he was happy that the navy Captain gave them their blessing. Putting his helmet on, he strolled over to the armory. He grabbed his trusty BR55 SR Battle Rifle, and three extra magazines. He also grabbed three frag grenades; which he attached to his webbing and a M6C/SOCOM pistol. The silent and semi automatic variant of the M6 series. Putting that in his thigh holster he made his way to his pod, nodding to Ricky as he passed him. The sniper was affixing the range finder goggles above his visor, and adding a fresh magazine into his SRS99D-S2 AM.

Other ODST gathered around the armory grabbing the weapons and equipment they needed. It was a first come first serve bases, and many Helljumpers sadly didn't get the weapon of their choosing. Carmine was at the back of the group, and when he got up to the weapons rack he was disappointed to see that his preferred weapon, the MA5C Assault Rifle, had already ran out. He was forced to take the M7S SMG. He didn't despise the M7; it was a good gun, but it lacked the stopping power of the MA5C. He grabbed a few grenades and stashed them in the confines of his rucksack, along with some medical supplies.

He, along with the rest of the ODST went to their pods, he found his, next to Corporal Cole and Private First Class Lombardi. He didn't really like Lombardi since he was always on his back about everything, but given the fact they were in the same squad he felt he should show some kindness, and maybe he will get some kindness in return.

"Good luck Alex," he said as he passed the demo man. Lombardi just turned and looked Carmine right in the face before polarizing his helmet, and with a gruff shove forced his rocket launcher into its slot. Derrick shrugged, figuring that was going to be the outcome and went to his pod. He put his M7 into the weapons slot, and then placed him self in the small confines of the SOEIV.

The SOEIV was nine feet in length, a span of 8.5 feet and a height of 18 feet. Within it is a crash seat, communications gear, numerous equipment racks, and a rudimentary control system and a single entry and escape hatch. In spite of the size of the pod, there is not much room to move around, as the space given over to equipment storage.

As Derrick sat there he thought of how the mission will turn out, it was his first and he could barely contain the excitement. Jace's voice came over the squad comm.

"Rookie, is this your first drop?"

"Um… yea," he answered slightly embarrassed, "I mean I had a couple practice drops on training, but this is my first combat drop."

"Hmm ok then, just don't fuck up and you will do fine," Jace remarked, giving Derrick some motivation. Although this was the first time the Corporal had ever talked to him since he got into the squad, he had always thought the man as a motivational person. With his corn rows and _Born 2 Kill _written on his chest armor, he had thought of Jace as a heroic figure, even more so then Sergeant Fenix or Captain Van Zandt.

His pod door suddenly closed and Derrick felt slightly comfortable in the coffin like pod. Both screens on his pod's hatch lit up. One showing Sergeant Fenix, the other showing Captain Van Zandt.

"Troopers we are dropping into hell on this one, time to grow a pair," Sergeant Fenix barked.

"And for you ladies, just pretend you're in the kitchen," Lombardi remarked.

"I swear to god, I'm gonna shot you in your smartass little mouth when we get down there," Ellie remarked, this was followed by agreement from a few of the other female Helljumpers.

"Thirty Seconds," Van Zandt reported. "Alright here we go," Carmine said to himself. He lurched as the pod was swung around on an armored stanchion. It swung through armored bulkheads, clattering down to the launch ramp on the UNSC ship. The bay door opened below them revealing the orbit around Earth.

Earth showed big and blue as it was pictured, this was Derricks first time ever seeing Earth as he was a Jericho born native. It was humongous, with most of it being covered by sea.

The pods in front of the rookie's flared to life as they began to descend. Derrick felt his stomach jump as his pod lurched away at breakneck speed. He slowly rose out of his seat, but then the pods slowed down a little as they went down.

"How you holding up rook," Sergeant Fenix's voice piped up over the comm.

"Doing fine sir," he replied, but truthfully he was scared like a little girl at the moment.

The pods broke through the cloud cover and descended into the atmosphere. The ceramic skin surrounding his pod burned away, this protected the rest of the pod and its occupant from the worst of the considerable heat. The gigantic skyscrapers and buildings of New York City were now visible. "Twenty klicks till the surface."

Derrick was actually relaxing a little more and was beginning to enjoy the ride when suddenly the pod a few pods down from his exploded into flame. "What the hell was…" the unfortunate Helljumper didn't get to finish his sentence as his pod too was hit.

"Shit AA fire, go evasive, but watch out for other pods," Fenix said adjusting his trajectory to avoid the oncoming fire.

Bright green bolts of plasma flew up out of Brooklyn as the pods neared. Everyone was dodging around trying to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately a few more of the pods were hit.

The upper exterior panels separated acting as a drag-type chute, slowing the pods down some and to keep on course.

Derrick was glad that the SOEIV had windows within its frame, this allowed him to see the plasma fire coming up from below and he could adjust his trajectory accordingly. He however couldn't see out the sides and he didn't see that by adjusting his pod to the right he had hit Jace's SOEIV.

Jace had been in many drops before and he expected to die, but he hadn't so far and he thought that as good luck. When the AA fire started up he was surprised he hadn't been hit at all, but his luck ran out when the pod next to his ran into him. His pod veered hard left from the collision and for a few seconds it was going literally sideways, before he could re adjust it.

"Rookie, Cole you guys are way off course," Fenix said.

"It's not my fault," Jace grunted as he attempted to stabilize his pod. He saw that the rookies pod was now twirling down to the surface like a Maple seed in a heavy wind.

He saw that the city was approaching fast. His pods computer controlled breaking rockets engage, slowing the pod, but this was of little use as he hit one of the tall buildings skidded across it and descended down even further into the city below.

A Jackal led a trio of Grunts down the street when all of a sudden the giant metal object fell out the sky and landed with a THUMP, no more then ten meters in front of them. The grunts let out a yelp of surprise as the pod landed. The jackal at first glance thought it was just debris from the space battle taking place above, but on closer inspection saw that this _debris_ resembled something along the lines of a metal coffin. The jackal approached its blue point defense gauntlet up and raised it in front of its face. It stopped about two meters in front of the object when a hiss escaped from the pod.

Suddenly the frame flew off the pod and caught the jackal right in its vulture like face. Its shields not even stopping the force of the frame hitting hit. It fell to the floor unconscious. The three grunts that accompanied it looked down at the still form of the jackal, then up at the pod. An armored hand raised its pistol, and in quick succession took out all three grunts with precise headshots.

Corporal Jacen Cole stepped out of his pod, casting a glance down at his first kills on this mission. He turned and quickly went through his pod, stripping it of all the essential gear he needed. He shouldered his BR and quickly checked his VISR. The IFF Tag showed that there was a friendly unit not too far from him. He clicked off the VISR and began to walk forward. He was passing the jackal when he noticed that it was still breathing. Raising his M6 he put a shot right between the eyes.

He suddenly realized that he was quite separate from the other ODST he was in northern Brooklyn; the rest would be in southern. _Shit this mission is already FUBAR, _he thought to himself as he ventured off into the howling unknown.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

Gunnery Sergeant Fenix gave a distasteful grunt as his pod slammed into the pavement; leaving a trail 30 meters long and skidded to a halt in the middle of an intersection. He quickly popped out his hatch and hopped out; MA5C raised. Instinct took over, and he did a three hundred sixty degree spin as he checked his surroundings. Once he was sure he was in the clear, he kneeled down and tried his comm. "Squad anyone there? Jace, Ellie, anybody?"

There was only static in response. The covenant must be using long range jammers; _great this mission couldn't get any harder, _he thought to himself. He suddenly remembered that VISR could show any friendly units within a certain range of him. Clicking on the HUD he brought up a map of the city.

The good thing was that his pod had dropped in the right place; they were supposed to land in the heights and then push their way to the AA located in the park west of here. The bad news was that not many other pods seemed to have fallen in this area, though his FF Tag showed that there was an ODST signal near him.

"Gunny," a familiar voice said over the comm. "This is Li; I'm a hundred yard to your right. I recommend you get out of the open and come to my position." Fenix looked in the indicated direction and saw movement within the shadows of a building; _ha Ricky was always the best at concealment. _

He moved quickly towards his sniper's position. Ricky's grayish black armor blended in perfectly with his surroundings, had it not been for Ricky speaking to him over the comm. he wouldn't have seen him at all.

Ricky gave a nod as his sergeant took a kneeling position next to him, "What's up, you okay?" Fenix asked depolarizing his visor. Ricky nodded.

"You hear from anybody else, Jace, Torres, Lombardi?"

Ricky too depolarized as he answered, "Jace and the Rook were knocked way off course, Lombardi should of landed somewhere around here and I have no clue where Torres is at." Fenix gave a look of concern, before asking, "What about any other ODST?"

Pointing in a direction south, Ricky said, "Most of the Helljumpers landed maybe a klick in that direction, but they might be all over the place within that klick."

"Then our first priority would be to roundup as many Helljumpers as we can," Fenix said standing up and pulling back the charge slot on his gun, "It would be a helluva hard ass job for the two of us to knock out those AA guns without some help."

Ricky nodded and stood up as well, "Well then lets' get started."

There was a deafening boom in the distance as the two ODST made their way down the street. _At least the 501__st__ is still kicking, _Fenix thought, _they were going to need the leathernecks after they took out the AA._

The two ran through a neighborhood ruined by plasma bombardments. Ahead of him Li lead the way, kicking up dust and dirt from the road. The dust had been what was once a two story home, now nothing but rubble. Li reached a corner and flattened himself against a plasma burned wall. Fenix followed suit as Li slowly raised his sniper and peered around the corner.

"Clear?" Fenix asked, hefting his MA5C and peering down the street from whence they came. There was no reply and a brief lull in the sounds of the distant battle. Fenix was about to speak again, "Is it cle"

Crack.

The shot from the sniper had scared the shit out of Fenix, it echoed down the ruined street as it went.

"It is now," Li said smugly. Fenix shook his head, "I'm taking point for now on."

Fenix turned the corner, followed by Ricky. The two ODST sprinted down the street; guns swerving as they checked every nook and cranny for any possible ambush. Fenix saw the corpse of a dead jackal sniper, with a bullet hole the size of an apple right through its head. Their movement came to an abrupt halt when they reached a four way intersection. The two streets were Cooper Street and Melinda Ave.

Signaling Li to stop, he motioned to the intersection, "Alright. I'm going to run across, you cover me." Ricky nodded.

Fenix crouched down. Holding his gun across his shoulder; he began to roadie run across the street. about halfway across; he was passing an abandoned car, when suddenly the cars rear drivers side window exploded into tiny fragments, the drivers window soon followed suit. Fenix ducked down against the frame of the car, as more rounds hit the car "Who's doing the shooting?"

Li sounded confused as he answered, "I don't know, but it's not plasma though, they look like bullets." Fenix listened carefully as the shooter put a few more rounds in the car; one missing him by a mere few centimeters. The gun the shooter was using sounded familiar; in fact he has heard that gun many times before. On Reach that was the main stay sharpshooter for the UNSC Army.

"UNSC forces on Cooper Street cease fire cease fire; this is Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, of 2nd Shock Troops Battalion." The voice that responded back sounded familiar as well, "Oh shit my bad Gunny." He recognized it as Sergeant Hawks of 3rd platoon.

"Hawks is that you? Come to my position," Fenix said not wanting to take anymore chances.

"Negative Gunny, you come to ours," Hawks insisted, probably for the same reason. Fenix grunted, "Fine, meets us halfway though." He signaled to Ricky to follow him. The two ODST moved slowly ducking and weaving from cover to cover as they went. After about 50 meters they saw Hawks and another ODST taking cover behind a convertible.

He and Ricky took up position next to them, "Glad to see you guys made it, though I wish you didn't try to blow my head off."

"Likewise Gunny, sorry about shooting at ya, I got a little jumpy," answered Hawks depolarizing his visor.

"It's okay, it's a good thing you're such a bad shot," Fenix joked.

Resting in Hawks lap was his preferred weapon of choice, the M392 Designated Marksman Rifle. The air-cooled, magazine-fed, gas-operated select-fire bull pup rifle fired 7.62x51mm rounds.

The rifle was semi automatic and saw a lot of action in all branches of the UNSC, but mainly the Army put this gun to use. However after the Fall of Reach, the DMR began to fiddle out, as more people were beginning to use the much sleeker BR55. But many veterans of the Reach Campaign still used the DMR because of its power and lightness. Hawks was one of those people.

The other ODST; with Gibson written on his chest plate, asked, "You guys the only ones who made it in your squad?" Ricky nodded, "We the only ones who landed near are actually DZ, the rest were spread out, we can't even locate Lieutenant Hall and the rest of our platoon."

Hawks nodded as well, "Yea that AA fire fucked us up real good. We are dropping all over freaking Brooklyn." Fenix looked over the two other ODST and asked, "You hear anything from Captain Van Zandt?"

Hawks and Gibson looked at each other, and then Hawks looked back at the Gunny, "After me n' Gibbs was under way we picked up a transmission from the captain, I'll relay it to you now."

It was a few seconds before the transmission reached Fenix's helmet, Captain Van Zandts' voice came over the comm. "_This is Captain Van Zandt; I know that we are all spread out throughout the borough. Any ODST that made it rendezvous at Liberty Hospital in Brooklyn Heights; I repeat any ODST forces from Alpha Company, 2__nd__ Shock Troops Battalion RV at Liberty Hospital, we will commence with the mission after an allotted time."_ With that the transmission ended.

Fenix up at Hawks and asked, "You know where Liberty Hospital is?"

"I don't personally, but Gibbs is a Brooklyn native, and he says it's on Cooper Street," Hawks replied motioning towards Gibson. "I can lead ya there sir, no problem, we were heading there now," Gibson boasted.

"Well lead the way then, Gibbs." Gibson hefted his Assault Rifle and led the way.

With that the four ODST made their way down Cooper Street; Gibson on point, Ricky behind him, followed by Hawks and Fenix was bringing up the rear. They went on for about five minutes like this until they came to a ruined wall. Against the wall a Marine in green fatigues lay dead with plasma burns on many parts of her armor and body, "Damn," Fenix said taking off her dog tags, and taking what ammo she had left in her Assault Rifle.

Gibbs motioned to the other side of a intersection, "Liberty Hospital is just another block that way." The others nodded, Gibbs turned and was about to go around the corner of the wall when a line of purple light nearly passed through his head.

"Hello," he cried out as he fell back behind the wall, turning to Ricky he said, "Sniper… second floor to the right." Hefting his sniper he said smugly, "Here, let me give him my "Welcome to Earth" care package."

Ricky took off the dead Marines helmet; to the annoyance of Hawks, who thought they shouldn't pillage from their own dead. Ricky picked up the marines assault rifle and placed the helmet on the muzzle of the gun. Fenix smiled when he realized what Ricky was doing.

"Here, Gibbs hold this and when I tell you slowly push it up over the edge as if a marine was peeking over," Ricky ordered handing Gibson the helmet and gun. Gibson did as told and slowly pushed up the gun and helmet.

ZING!, another particle beam shot went straight through the helmet, sending it flying backwards out of Gibson's hands. At the same time Ricky peered over the edge and sighted on the lone Jackal sniper. BOOM! The shot nearly deafened everyone as the 14.5 x 114mm AP round flew out of the sniper rifle and flew cleanly into the Jackal. The Jackal was thrown back from the force of the shot and sent flying back into the ruined apartment building it had taken cover in.

A cheer rose up from the Helljumpers at the victory. "Damn helluva shot there Private, I'm sure as hell happy you're on our side and not the Covvies." Gibson nodded in agreement, "That was some nice ruse you did there, Jackal bastard didn't even realize the helmet was fake."

Fenix smiled at his snipers success, but knew they had to move on, "Alright, the time for congratulating can wait till later, we need to move on to Liberty Hospital, now." Gibson nodded and continued to lead the way, the others following on his heels.

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Downtown Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

Corporal Jacen Cole made his way through the streets of downtown Brooklyn. From the amount of graffiti and horrible conditions from half the houses and streets he saw, he came to the conclusion he was in one of Brooklyn's many slums. _I used to live in something like this; _he thought to himself, _until I got out of that hell hole and made something of myself joining the UNSC. _

He shook off the thoughts of home, and glanced at his mission time clock, it was 1700 hours into the day, making it roughly around 6 o'clock. The sun would be setting in about three hours. He switched quickly to his VISR map and saw that the FF tag he saw earlier had moved about a mile from its last current position; much to Jace's dismay. But for the last ten minutes the friendly unit didn't move at all. Jace had thought he was killed, but then the tag would've marked the person as much, so Jace realized the person must b resting.

He moved quickly towards the others position; hoping to catch him in at least comm. range. He surprisingly hadn't run into anymore covenant after the jackal and a trio of grunts, but he was still on his top guard. He moved from shadow to shadow as he approached the others position.

As he got closer he could hear, plasma fire, followed by the muffled shots of an M7 returning fire. _No wonder the other dude hadn't moved. He hadn't been resting; he had been engaged in a firefight. _

He got into a low crouch and approached the firefight. Peering over a burned out husk of a car he could see the battle that was occurring. Two grunts and a blue armored Elite, approached an overturned dumpster; firing their plasma weaponry as they approached. Behind the dumpster a lone ODST took cover, popping out for a few seconds to fire before ducking back down behind the dumpster.

From the FF tags it reported that the ODST was Carmine. "Rookie, this is Cole, I'm to the west of you about 20 meters, behind this destroyed Genet." He saw the rookie take a break from firing to look over in his direction, "Thank god corporal, these covvie bastards got me pinned."

Jace quickly took the situation in hand, it was a few moments before he came up with a plan, "Alright, rookie keep their attention on you for a moment, I'm going to flank around and hit them from behind, we will catch them in across fire." The rookie nodded and popped over the dumpster and put another burst from his SMG into the elite. However the Elites shields held out against the rounds.

Jace moved from cover to cover making sure not to attract the elite or grunts attention. He made his way around back until he came across a abandoned police car. Resting his BR55 on the hood, he peered through the scope of the weapon and sighted on the grunt on the elites left. He lightly pressed the trigger and the gun kicked out a three round burst. The rounds took off the grunts head clean; it lopped forward and fell like a rock. He sighted on the other grunt and fired. The shots caught the grunt in the back and span it around. He put another burst into the grunt; killing it. The elite noticed its grunt subordinate fall over dead. It turned around to the new threat and fired its plasma rifle wildly in his direction.

Jace knew that the blue armor on an elite meant that they were the youngsters of the elite species; they always acted like hot shot rookies. He put a round into the elite's chest, but the shields absorbed the shots, he fired again and this time the shields dissipated. He went to fire again but was disappointed when his gun clicked empty. He needed to reload.

"Shit! Rookie take that guy out!" he yelled ducking down behind the police car as the elite fired on his position. The rookie ran out from behind his cover and began firing his M7S into the elites back. The 5 x 23mm Full Metal Jacket rounds tore into the elite's spine, indigo blood pouring out with each new hole. The elite howled in agony and span around to fire, but left its back open to a now fully reloaded Jace. Both ODST fired their weapons simultaneously catching the elite right in the head. The Covenant warrior fell in a pool of its own indigo blood.

The two Helljumpers approached the corpse. Jace nodded to the rookie, who returned the nod, "Thanks corporal, I thought I was toast for a minute."

Depolarizing his dark red tinted visor, Jace responded, "Think nothing of it Rook, you here from the Gunny or anyone?" Carmine shook his head, "Nah I came down like a downed whirly bird, nearly threw up when I got out my pod, you have any idea where we are?"

"Not in the right place thanks to you," Jace said angrily. "Yea sorry about that one sir, I was trying to avoid the AA fire; I really fucked up on this one didn't I?" Carmine moaned. Jace took pity on the rookie. Putting a hand on the youngsters shoulder he reassured him, "It's alright we all were afraid on our first combat drop, and we all make mistakes."

The rookie seemed to brighten up at the words, "Thanks sir, but its hard to believe you being scared." Jace chuckled, "rook, I'm kind of scared right now, and enough of that sir shit, we aren't that polite around here, just call me Jace."

Carmine saluted, "Yes si- I mean Jace. So what do we do now?" Jace looked up at the sun, which was slowly starting to set, "We got to get above all this crap and link up with the Bee-net, someone has to be out there."

With that Jace began to walk down the street, the Rookie following close behind.

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Dractus sat in his makeshift throne of metal and wood. His gravity hammer named _Fist of Tabegon _lean against the arms of the chair. Dractus' tan fur was flat and premed; something not usually associated with his kind. The sun reflected off of his crimson armor.

One of his body guards leaned in close to him and grunted, "Lord when are we to attack the San…" Dractus put up his hand to silent the other brute.

Without looking at the body guard, he said, "Soon my friend soon." The body guard knew not to try to continue the conversation and went back to his position standing idle along side his chieftain.

Dractus stared forward at the golden armored Sangheili Karalee; who was conversing with to of his little Sangheili warriors. _Soon, _he thought to himself, _soon. _

Azo Kisamee lay on his back in the "barracks" of the command center. The barracks were little more then a room once used by the humans as storage, that the Sangheili refashioned to their liking. Azo looked around at the eighteen other Sangheili in the room. They were all right now the only thing that could stop a possible Jiralhanae take over. Azo knew that the brutes were going to have more numbers when their inevitable attack came, and he doubted this small group would be able to hold off an entire attack, but he was willing to fight to the death.

The thing that really worried him was the fact that commander Karalee had ordered the majority of the Sangheili to wait in the barracks. He couldn't think of any real reason why except to maybe catch the brutes off guard when they attacked, but he wasn't sure.

Regardless he was going to fight the bastard brutes and he was going to take as many of them as he could down with him. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

The four Helljumpers strayed through Liberty Hospital's parking lot cautiously. The parking lot was filled with all sorts of vehicles, but all of them were abandoned and it gave the parking lot an ominous feeling. Liberty Hospital was a large multi- floor building, made of white brick. It had hundreds of windows; many of which were broken and being used as port holes for the marines of the 501st.

Behind the ODST; where Cooper Street and the parking lot met, hundreds of grunts lay dead. It seemed the Covenant had used the lowly ranked grunts as cannon fodder to test the humans' defenses. _A smart move, _thought Fenix as he lead the group through the maze of cars.

As they neared the entrance, they became aware of marines; in their green battle armor with black and gray fatigues, hunkered down behind cars and makeshift barriers. A mounted chain gun was mounted on the over hang above the main entrance. The marine manning was sitting back and smoking a cigarette. Fenix approached a marine sitting behind a sand bag bunker. The marine had the three chevrons with two crossed rifles under it; indicating a sergeant.

"Sergeant want to tell me what happened here?" The Marine looked up at Fenix with a disconcerted look, "The Covenant rushed at least three hundred Grunts at us, got about half of them before they got into the parking lot, but the rest got within the cover of the cars and dug in. It was freaking hell trying to get them out of there. Loss a quarter of the company trying to do it." The sergeant didn't say anymore he just sat back against the door of the car he was resting on and took a whiff of his smoke.

Fenix didn't bother ask anymore questions to these men, they had been through hell fighting in the city and he knew that this was a much needed break. He wasn't about to ruin their break by pestering them with questions. He walked through the main entrance into the lobby. A chaotic scene was placed before him and the others.

Corpsmen ran here and there, some carrying wounded and some pushing stretchers, and some pushing stretchers with the too badly wounded. Fenix and the others made there way past the mayhem and went up to the lobby desk, where a marine radio operator sat. By the looks of it she was going through a helluva time. She was screaming into one mic while in another someone would be screaming at her. Fenix coughed to get her attention, but she didn't notice, he coughed a little louder but still nothing. Fed up he slammed his fist down on the table, attracting the attention of a few nearby marines.

The radio operator looked up with a scowl, "What the hell do you want Helljumper?" Fenix tried to keep his voice under control and not yell, "I need to know where Captain Van Zandt, Alpha Company, 2nd Shock Troops Battalion is?"

The marine shrugged and said, "Hell if I know, Helljumpers came and went through here a lot," with that she went back to yelling into her mic. Fenix shook his head and signaled for the rest to follow him as he went deeper into the hospital. "What a bitch," he heard Hawks mumble under his breath.

The lobby led out two ways, one way led to elevators which were currently not in use, the other led deeper into the hospital pass a few rooms and the cafeteria. The cafeteria was where marines would take a break before getting back to the grind. Fenix decided to ask a few of the 501st in there if they knew where Van Zandt was. He swaggered into the cafeteria, Ricky, Hawks and Gibson followed.

As they approached Fenix heard someone yell, "Hey Gunny, over here." They turned and saw Alex Lombardi sitting on top of table; feet hanging off the side and helmet placed next to him. Surrounding him were other Helljumpers of Alpha Company, though there wasn't that many maybe about two dozen in all.

Fenix clasped hands with his demo expert and asked, "So you guys made it eh?" Lombardi laughed, "Hell yea we made it, though I landed with about a half dozen guys in the northern part of the city, we picked up Van Zandt's transmission to come here, so we did," he took a bite of a muffin he was eating and through a full mouth continued, "Came just in time too, the Covie bastards sent hundreds of those damn grunts to siege the place, the small group I was with had to cut around back through the garage and sneak in through one of the small side entrances."

Fenix depolarized his visor and smiled, "Hell you call yourselves Helljumpers sneaking pass a few hundred grunts, you guys should of ran straight through there guns a blazing."

"Yea we should've, we definitely would've gotten a medal or something," Another ODST sarcastically remarked. Fenix chuckled and looked back at Lombardi, "Hey do you know where Captain Van Zandt is now?" Lombardi motioned to another entrance into the cafeteria, "go out there and up the stairs to your left, he should be in the 501st Battalion HQ, with Major Harper, and the rest of the CO's."

Fenix thanked him and moved out, Ricky and the other two ODST he came with stayed with the others and chatted. Fenix went out the double doors leading into the cafeteria and took a right to the stairs that lead up to the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor was as packed as the first. Marines from the 501st Bravo Company manned much of the rooms up here. In most of the rooms sat or lay wounded marines, some with just minor burns but the more serious were hooked up to IV's and some had missing limbs that had been amputated off.

Fenix made his way down the hall, stepping to the side as a marine pushed another wounded one on a stretcher went by. Fenix looked away from the wounded marines disfigured face, he felt bad for the man, knowing he won't have the same life ever again. He made his way down the hall sparing quick glances into every room. It was the same story in everyone. Some wounded marines would lie on a bed or a pair of marines would be manning the room, rifles aimed outside waiting for another inevitable attack.

Fenix reached the mid section of the 2nd floor, here there seemed to be even more chaos and mayhem then on the first floor lobby. Radio operators were talking into their mic so fast that it all sounded like a giant blur, marines went hither and dither; reporting in or delivering messages. Fenix found Lieutenant Aiko, talking to another lieutenant of the 501st.

Aiko was 1st platoons CO. She was a beautiful and feisty one. Despite her name meaning love child in Japanese, she was nothing but that. Much of the company knew of her ways with men. On more then one occasion she would flirt with men and have them admit they wanted to have sex with her. She would then accuse them of fraternization and kick their ass. Lombardi once had the unfortunate luck of being one of her targets; he ended up in the hospital for a black eye and broken arm. To the female members of the company she was their idol, she stood for women's rights in the military. Personally Fenix envied her too; she was a great combat soldier and leader.

Fenix approached the LT, she looked in his direction and smile; her auburn hair was blocking part of her face, but she still looked cute, "Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, glad you could join the party." Fenix nodded, "Happy I was invited, though it seems I missed the main event."

Aiko chuckled and remarked, "Oh it's just getting started, the Covenant just sent grunts at us, next time it'll probably be Elites, Jackals and they'd probably bring some armor too." Fenix slightly shuddered at having to go up against a Wraith tank. They were called Wraiths because they were usually the last thing you saw before you became one. "Well when they do we will be ready, have you seen Captain Van Zandt?" Aiko motioned to the center of the lobby, "He's over there, with the 501st major."

Aiko and Fenix strolled through the mass of marines until they got to the center of the lobby; Captain Van Zandt was standing talking to Major Harper. Fenix and Aiko stood by until Van Zandt noticed them, "Gunny, glad to see you made it."

"Likewise, Captain, I was able to bring three other ODST with me," Fenix said, before looking at the ground slightly, "I was unable to locate the rest of my squad though, I fear the worst has happened." Van Zandt put a hand on Fenix's shoulders, "I'm sorry son, I know it's a hard loss." Fenix took off his helmet and nodded, Van Zandt motioned for him to follow him.

"I want you to meet Major Harper, CO of the 501st Marine Division." Major Harper was a built man for a marine. He was kind of pale made even more so by his black hair. He raised his hand for Fenix to shake and Fenix accepted it. "Gunnery Sergeant pleased to meet you, we need all the help we can get," Harper said, his voice had a slight New Yorker accent. "You sound like you're from around these parts Major," Fenix inquired. Harper smiled and responded, "Yup, Bronx native born and raised, good thing too, cause I have some knowledge of the area."

Fenix nodded in approval and asked, "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, where's the rest of your Battalion?" Harpers' smile turned into a grim frown and he said sadly, "You are looking at it Gunny." Fenix looked completely surprised. A battalion had about 500 hundred troops in it, but in the hospital Fenix had guessed that there were only about 200 hundred soldiers. About half of those men were injured.

Harper could see the puzzled look on Fenix's face and decided to explain, "You see Gunny, when Earth first got hit we were stationed in USS Reagan sea base. The Covvies attacked Manhattan we were ordered to assault the island city. But the Covvie quickly took over and garrisoned the place; we couldn't break through. We couldn't get across any of the bridges leading into Manhattan and the tunnels were half flooded and filled with the damn bugger aliens. An air assault was out of the question because of the Covenants damn AA guns, much of our Pelicans were shot down in the Hudson River. We were forced to dig in Brooklyn, but the bastards crossed the bridge and counter attacked us. We fought for an entire day, taking heavy casualties as we were pushed back block by block." Harper sighed as he continued, "Liberty Hospital was originally our medical area, but eventually we had to fortify it as it became our last strong hold."

"What about evac?" Fenix Asked.

Harper shook his head, "Until those damn AA guns are knocked out, high command has forbid any evac birds from coming in. they say its too risky that they will lose more good men," Harper suddenly slammed his fist on his table causing his coffee to spill over, "Dammit we already lost so many good men and women to injuries that they could have been saved from had they had the right medical supplies, all we need is those damn AA's knocked out."

It was Van Zandt who spoke up next, "That's where we come in Gunny; we are going after those AA guns tonight."

"Why not now, sir?"

"Because are chances at completing this mission are increased in the night," Fenix nodded in agreement at the Captains statement, "Here's the plan, in approximately 0500 hours we will set out through the parking garage and sneak back into the Brooklyn. We barely have enough troops to form a platoon so we will split up into team of about a dozen each. I'll command Alpha Team personally, since LT Mc Riggs hasn't reported in; we assume the worst. LT Aiko will command Bravo Team, gunny you and the rest of your men will fall in with her."

Fenix nodded as Van Zandt continued, "The two AA guns are conveniently placed about a mile and a half in either direction of Cooper Street, you might have heard them firing as you came here." _Those booms I heard earlier weren't 501__st__ boys fighting, _Fenix thought to himself, _they were the AA guns, we had been so close._ "Alpha team and I will head south and tackle the AA there. Aiko, you and Bravo head up north towards the other AA. We will knock out the gun and by dawn reinforcements should arrive, any questions?"

Both ODST shook their heads no, "Alright then let's go kick some Covenant ass." With that a cheer rose up from all the marines and Helljumpers present.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

**ZING!** The spike round from a Brute Type-25 Carbine nearly missed Azos' head; sizzling in the wall behind him. Azo ducked behind the metal table he had flipped over earlier to use as a makeshift barrier. He waited three seconds before popping back up quickly and fired a shot from his Covenant Carbine; the green bolt passing through a Brutes skull. He ducked down as more spikes impaled the table. Huze ducked down behind Azos' cover; his chest heaving as he tried to control his breathing.

"Brother we have been pushed back," Huze panted reloading his plasma rifle, "I fear that there are only so many of us yet." Azo nodded, the Brutes had attacked only a half hour before. Two phantoms had crashed through the skylight of the command center and unloaded their cargo of at least a dozen Jiralhanae.

Commander Karalee and his two escorts fought bravely taking down at least half a dozen Brutes before they succumbed to the Brutes numbers. At least he had died like any Sangheili would want to; fighting the enemy to his last breath. After hearing the opening shots, the eighteen Sangheili in the barracks had charged to the command center to face the brute onslaught.

The command center temporarily became a war zone as the two warrior species of the Covenant battled it out. Desk and chairs were flipped over to provide cover. Spikes and plasma filled the air. Azo and Huze had been side by side fighting the entire time. Combined they had to have taken down at least eight Jiralhanae. But numbers didn't matter; the brutes brought in more reinforcements via Phantoms.

The Brute Chieftain, Dractus, had ended the life of a few of their Sangheili brothers' wit that damned hammer of his. "We have to kill Dractus, without a head the rest will fall," Huze instructed. Azo knew he was right, but that was easier said then done. After the Sangheili had been pushed back into the hallway outside the command center, Dractus opted to stay behind and "urge" his warriors from the rear. "There's no way we can reach that coward when he sits behind all his Jiralhanae scum," Azo retorted. "We must find a way," Huze said lobbing a plasma grenade over the barrier. The blue sphere reached out and landed on a Brutes arm. The Brute could only roar in defiance before it was blown to bits. Azo smiled at the minor victory, but knew they need a plan out of here.

Besides them there were only two other Sangheili brethren left. One was a Major Domo; he was injured in the leg and couldn't move, he was huddled down behind another barrier; his energy sword out and ready to deliver a final lunge at any enemy that peek around the barrier. The other was crouching down firing its plasma rifle in short controlled burst. He went on firing until a spike grenade landed near him. Azo made eye contact with his brother before the grenade went off, tearing the poor Sangheili to pieces.

That was enough for him, Azo went into a rage. He hopped up from cover and began firing his Covenant Carbine like a mad beast. He caught one brute in the chest and another with a clean head shot.

Azo would've taken a spike through the head had it not been for Huze grabbing him back and pulling him behind the cover. "Are you mad, Azo," He yelled, "You could of gotten yourself killed."

Azo shook his head in despair, "We are done anyways, the Jiralhanae have beaten us."

"No," Huze said defiantly, "We are not done, if we can fall back to the landing pad, we can fly to the other human city across the river, then we can link up with the remainder of our Sangheili brethren and then we can extract our revenge on Dractus and his bastard Brutes."

Azo had never thought of it like that, "Right brother, I'm sorry for losing my head there." Huze nodded before saying, "It is alright, now on three run and don't stop until you get to the landing pad."

Azo nodded; as Hue began count, "one" he fired his plasma rifle blindly over the cover.

"Two"

"Three," Azo and Huze both got up and sprinted towards the entrance to the hallway; firing over there shoulders as they ran. The Jiralhanae were taken aback by the sudden move, and for a few seconds didn't give chase, but one of them; a purple- blue armored Captain gave the order to charge. The Jiralhanae charged after the Sangheili duo.

Azo was always a little faster then Huze, even when they first met in the Military Academy. But Azo slowed down for his long time friend. They turned a corner and saw the landing pads straight ahead. "There it is."

The two Sangheili put on the afterburners now, they both were going so fast that some of the brutes gave up chase realizing they couldn't catch them. Azo was the first to reach the landing pads; where three of the Covenants premier flyers, the Banshee sat parked. Azo just got to the nearest Banshee, when he heard a grunt of pain come from behind him.

He turned to see Huze sprawled out on the ground; a spike was lodged in his right calf. "Huze!" Azo yelled out preparing to leap between his friend and the fast approaching brutes.

"No," Huze grunted, "Get out of here; I'll buy you some time." Azo wasn't hearing any of it. He still made his way to his friend. Huze suddenly drew his plasma rifle and aimed it dead center at Azo, "Get out of here, or so help me I'll shoot you myself." Azo got the message and backed off saying, "It has been an honor to know you, my brother." Huze responded proudly, "Same to you my brother now go."

Azo turned and hopped into the cockpit of the Banshee. The purple canopy slowly closed down. He turned to see the first couple brutes run up and surround Huze. One of them drew a Spiker and was preparing to finish him off, when he drew out to primed plasma grenades.

Huze and the two Jiralhanae were vaporized in a flashing blue light. Azo didn't cry, but he did show remorse. He boosted his Banshee out into the evening sky. Below him the concrete jungle of Manhattan lay. Despite a few fires and columns of smoke here and there, the city looked quite peaceful.

He boosted out towards the East River. A large human bridge led from the island city into the other city across the river. The slowly setting sun reflected of the pale blue water below. Azo actually enjoyed the crude human scenery.

Boom, something hit his Banshee. He turned and saw that two brute controlled banshees were giving chase to him. He swore and began to swerve back and forth trying to shake off his pursuers. The brutes stayed awfully on target and he wasn't sure he could shake them. He was almost across the river; if he could just land then he could easily defeat these barbarians. Boom Boom, his Banshee took a huge blow from the enemy banshees fuel rod cannon.

"Damn," he swore as he tried to get his flier under control, but it was slowly plummeting towards the river. He pulled up hoping to crash land in the city. He swore repeatedly as he approached the Earth.

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Downtown Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

Private First Class Ellie Torres had been unconscious for the last few hours. When they had dropped into the city she had swerved to avoid AA fire, after her drag chute had opened a plasma round had hit it and incinerated it. She plummeted towards the city at speeds she was not supposed to. She probably would've died on impact had it not been for her being "slowed" down by the many tall buildings in the area.

She had only recently waked up. She quickly stripped her pod of all the essential gear, like her extra ammo, rappelling gear and medical supplies. She then went on her way. But her VISR HUD had messed up on impact. Her COM was also not working. With these negative factors attuning to her, she was helplessly lost and alone.

She made her way down one of Downtown Brooklyn's many streets. The sun was beginning to set and the streets were beginning to have an ominous feeling to them. Every shadow looked like a enemy and every turn or alleyway would be contested with what Ellie thought were enemies. Though these turned out to be trashcans or abandoned household appliance.

"Calm down Ellie, don't get too jumpy," she told herself, "Just remember what your old DI said." _Out in the field your imagination will play tricks on you just don't give in too it and you will survive. _"Bullshit," she grunted, "that was easy for him too say he had never been alone in the middle of a freaking city surrounded by enemies on all sides."

She went on, passing the occasional dead grunt or jackal, and sometimes the sad figure of a dead marine or civilian. She came to a conjunction where she was presented with a peculiar scene.

Lying out in front of her were about a dozen Covenant troops; all were dead. There were a few Elites and the rest were Brutes. But what really was peculiar was that the Elites seemed to have been killed by the Brute spiker rifle, evidenced by the spikes in their abdomen and legs. The Brutes seemed to have been killed by plasma fire and one even seemed to be beheaded by an energy sword.

"This is odd," she said to no one in particular, "It seems the Split lips and Baby Kong's killed each other off." _Whatever, if there busy fighting each other that means less work for me to do._ She moved on from the odd scene.

It was another few minutes when she realized she was approaching the water front as she could here the waves crashing against the harbor walls. She also heard something that sounded like a woman wailing. She looked up just in time to see Banshee crash into a warehouse in front of her. It skidded through the warehouse big doors and came to a halt in the street in front of her. She quickly got behind the cover of a dumpster and watched; SMG ready.

An Elite hopped out of the Banshee. By his purple indigo armor, Ellie could tell he was one of those Special Forces types. The Elite looked dazed for a split second before it regained its composure. Suddenly two other fliers flew over and began circling the wreckage. The Elite raised its Covenant Carbine and fired off a few shots, before it back pedaled into the warehouse.

Ellie was more confused now then she had ever been, her confusion mounted as she watched the two Banshees land and two Brutes _hopped_ out. One was a Captain the other was a minor. They raised their Spike rifles and with a primeval roar made their way into the warehouse after the Elite.

_What the hell is going on, _she wondered as she made her way stealthily towards the warehouse to see what was going on.

Azo praised his good luck; he had been able to land on land. His Banshee slammed into a warehouse and crashed out into the street. His luck slowly started to run out when he realized the two brutes were still after him, they circled up above him. He fired, but knew it was pointless and he made his way inside the warehouse. He knew the Brutes would follow; he would set up an ambush for them.

He quickly took in his surroundings. The warehouse was dimly lit and he figured the brutes' eye sight wouldn't be able to pick up on him if he used his active camo. He made his way behind some barrels and waited. Soon enough he could here the grunts and snorts of the brutes, "He went in this way."

"Right, when you find him skin him alive," another responded. Azo waited a few more seconds to make sure they both were inside the warehouse before he made his move. Activating his camouflage, he became pretty much invisible to the naked eye. He climbed up onto the barrels and waited till the first brute came around the corner. It was the lesser brute and he was weaving his spiker from side to side trying to locate him. "Where are you little Sangheili?"

Azo sighted through his Covenant Carbines coracle shaped crosshair and whispered, "I'm right here." He pulled the trigger; the green bolt of plasma seared out of the gun and found its mark on the Brutes head. The brutes' helmet and shields failed, but it withstood the shot. It was stunned for a second before firing its spike rifle in every direction, not sure where Azo was.

Azo fired again right into the brutes' chest, knocking it back behind the barrels out of view. Azo had no time to ensure that it was dead. At that exact moment his active camo failed. The other Brute saw him and it fired its spiker at him. Azo ducked and rolled out of the way behind a pile of boxes. Azo blind fired around cover hoping to score a kill. He heard nothing after that.

He slowly peeked around the corner. Nothing was there; the Brute was gone. Azo turned back around, just in time to move his head out of the way of the brutes spike bayonet. The bayonet however found its mark on his thigh, leaving a gash in his leg.

He quickly unslung his energy sword just in time to counter another bayonet slash. He and the brute were locked in a parry for a good minute, with the brute slowly pushing him back.

Azo suddenly came up with an idea. He let go of all his weight, and let the brute fall on top of him. He fell on his back with his foot raised into the brutes crouch and he flipped the behemoth over him. He quickly got to his feet and lunged at the helpless brute. He quickly slit its thick skin around its throat and killed it.

Ellie watched the whole scene in fascination. That Elite had killed both those brutes in a matter of minutes. _That was quite a feat, _she thought to herself as she watched the Elite finish off the brute captain by slitting his throat. The elite stood up and gave a warriors roar. He however did not see the minor brute, who was in fact very much alive, get up and raise its spiker to fire into the elites back; Ellie however did.

She wasn't sure if it was on impulse, but she raised her M7 and fired half the clip into the brute. It toppled over onto its back, red-blue blood spraying everywhere as it fell.

Azo turned around in surprise at the dead brute he thought he had killed. He looked back at his savoir, a human in black armor, with a helmet and visor that covered its face. "What blasphemy is this?" he mumbled to himself. There was an awkward moment where both of them just sort of stared at each other. It was broken by the human.

"Um, hi how's it going?" the human said in a tiny voice. Azo wasn't sure if he should kill the human or not, "Human, why did you save me?"

The human sounded confused when it answered, "I'm not really sure, it just seemed like those Brutes really wanted you dead." Azo slowly walked from the duo of dead corpses towards the human, it backed up a little as he approached. He stopped a few feet away from the human, "I thank you then human and those Brutes do want me and the rest of my kind dead."

Ellie was seriously confused, "Wait the elites and brutes are fighting each other?" Azo sneered, "Elites, humph, such a trivial name but a correct one for my race."

"Don't get a head of yourself split lip, anyways why are your kind and the brutes fighting?"

Azo began to walk pass her and out of the warehouse, "It is a long story human, I must go now and find the rest of my kind, we will go back to that island city and kill that bastard Dractus."

Ellie grabbed his arm to stop him, she quickly let go when she saw his face, "Well your out of luck friend, I've seen many of your dead kind in the borough, they were fighting the brutes and my people." Azo looked sad for a second before responding, "Looks like the brutes are attacking her as well." Ellie nodded in agreement, "Looks like you're gonna need some help."

Azo looked peculiar, "Do you really think you can keep up with me human?"

"I sure as hell can try," Ellie said with a hint of pride.

Azo was beginning to like this human, "Very well human you can come with me, seeing as how you saved my life and all."

"Cool, cool and enough of the human crap, you can call me Ellie."

"Very well Ellie, you can call me Azo." With that the ODST and Elite trudged off into the now dark city of Brooklyn.

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

Cur 'Kasamee fired his plasma rifle into the last of the brutes. The weapon was literally melting from over use. Cur breathed heavily as he tossed the weapon aside. Next to him his two Mgalekgolo body guards stood next to him; their assault cannons still smoking from use. He gave a nod to them and they returned it by raising their shields in an awkward salute. All around them the ground was littered with the dead bodies of Jiralhanae, Kig-yar, Unggoy and a few Sangheili. It had been a blood bath.

"Field Marshall, the last of the Jiralhanae are eradicated," This was Tano 'Zorahee, the leader of the Special Operations Sangheili. There were six in all including him. Tano was missing his left lower mandible, courtesy of a recent close encounter with a Jiralhanae combat knife. Indigo blood still dripped from the wound down onto his armor.

"It will seem so brother, a feeble attempt by a feeble foe," Cur replied coldly. He had no love for the Jiralhanae, as most Sangheili don't, but Cur especially hated the brutes for their barbaric way of life. They had no sense of honor; hell even the humans have some sense of honor…. And they are probably smarter. But a last he was forced to use them as they were tools of the Prophets will; as they were all.

Cur had heard from Field Master Karalee that they were getting reinforcements in the form of Jiralhanae from the _Fleet of Awesome Fury_, which he could've sworn was a previously Sangheili controlled fleet. He had heard that the Prophets were making major changes in the guard but he had dismissed them as rumors, now he wasn't so sure.

He had heard that a human convoy was en route through the area known as _Hotel Leona_; a large hotel with much open space. He had set up an ambush within one of the large buildings bordering the complex. He and his strike team had sat waiting for two hours when all of a sudden the Jiralhanae stroll right into the area as if nothing was happening. Cur was more then displeased at the Jiralhanae's incompetence and was about to broadcast over the COM, to the Brute Captain Ultra in charge when they suddenly began shooting his Sangheili who were stationed on the lower tiers. Infuriated at the sudden Jiralhanae betrayal Cur has his troops jump into battle against the brutes. The battle had lasted nearly an hour. Both sides using anything for cover. Walls trees and some even dug foxholes. There was a point where both sides were literally shooting from building to building. The battle finally came to close quarters and both sides showed their skills. Bones were broken, limbs sliced off and heads caved in, but the Sangheili and their allies finally prevailed.

Cur walked around the courtyard he was in assessing the situation, he had about two dozen Sangheili warriors left under his command; a drop from the original forty. He had about twice that much Unggoy left, but knowing them he would need at least a hundred to make a difference. The only skilled Unggoy he had left were the seven Special Operations Unggoy under Tano's command.

Normally, Grunts are poorly trained for combat and are usually deployed in massive numbers as cannon fodder. However, if Grunts are given proper training they can acquire specialized roles and provide excellent support to Spec Ops teams. Generally tougher, smarter, and certainly more aggressive than their lesser brethren, Spec Ops Grunts are always deployed with Spec Ops Elite team leaders; such as Tano.

Cur kept walking and watched as a Sangheili minor in its blue armor kicked a dead Kig-yar in the head. The bird like aliens face was twisted in an awkward way. "Treacherous Kig-Yar turned on us," The minor growled.

It was true, once the Jiralhanae started attacking the score or so of Kig-yar under his command turned on them and began firing at their own allies. This caught them by surprise and it cost them quite a few of their warriors, but the group finally got their act together and dealt with the traitors before dealing with the Jiralhanae.

Tano appeared next to him and glanced at the dead Kig-yar, "Serves the bastards right, grabbing the moment of surprise to try to kill us, there is no honor in such a fight."

Cur glanced up at his close friend, "No Tano there isn't, but I feel we are in a time and age where honor means nothing to anyone anymore." Tano looked baffled at the statement, "Brother surely you jest? An age of no honor is barbaric, it makes us no better then those bastard Brutes."

"I'm just saying friend, that these Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar both got the jump on us and fought with no honor and look how much damage they did."

"Ha damage, they barely put a dent in our forces and there was a good forty of the brutes," Tano boasted, "This is why we Sangheili are the Prophets right hand and not the Jiralhanae."

"But think about it brother, the Prophets were not always our allies, remember the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, we fought the Hierarchs for control of the Forerunners."

"Yes I know of the Sa Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, why do you tell me things I learned when I was a youngling," Tano snarled. Had it been any other subordinate, Cur would have cut them there and then, but Tano was Cur's closest ally and friend and the two have been together since the Military Academy. When Cur made Ship Master, he had Tano transferred aboard his ship and as they progressed in rank (Cur always ahead) they stayed together until this point.

Cur smiled, "My old friend, all I am trying to say is that the Prophets have not always been our allies and it was only a matter of time before they replaced us."

Tano seemed to dwell on the subject for a second before asking, "You think the Prophets really replaced us?" Cur nodded, "I bet a week rations they did." This wasn't much to the Field Marshall as he could acquire food easily because of his rank.

"Then the bastards must pay," Tano roared raising his fist in the air. Cur shook his head, "Alas my Brother this task may be difficult even for us Sangheili, I can't raise any other Sangheili over the B-net, I fear that our brothers have fallen in battle."

Tano seemed to show a sign of disappointment before returning to his original self, "Then Field Marshall you will have to rally what troops we have left and lead us back to the island city and capture one of the Brutes ships."

Cur chuckled, "You must be daft, how do expect any of these proud warriors to follow us to the island city, we will be far outnumbered and far outgunned."

"When has that ever stopped us before, just ask these warriors to follow and we will." Cur thought about it then realized the Special Operations Officer was correct. He made his way over to a few pieces of rubble that would work as a nice podium and stood atop them.

The appearance of his armor was enough to attract the attention of all the Sangheili and Unggoy in the area. His armor had tones and hues of dark violets and blues. The shapes are insect like Covenant warships, giving it an affirmative appearance of Covenant construction. Overall, the field Marshall's battle attire is less ceremonious and designed for optimum efficiency in battle, while still emulating the traditionally sleek battle dress worn by the Sangheili throughout the Ages.

He was a Sangheili Field Marshall. The Field Marshall rank falls under the Zealot-class, but outranks regular Zealots. Besides leading large-scale ground operations, Field Marshall are known to lead small strike teams comprised of Zealot officers for operations that require both skill and precision to take out key targets to turn the tide of the war/make a key difference.

He was the acting commander of most of the Covenants forces in the area and he had garnered much respect from them. So when he talked they listened.

"My fellow Covenant warriors, we have been betrayed by the likes of the Jiralhanae and possibly the Prophets." He paused to let that sink in to the crowd, they murmured things like how and heresy, but stopped instantly as he continued, "I have witnessed countless numbers of Sangheili and Unggoy alike fall in battle."

"Now I do not know about you guys but I am in the mood for some well earned revenge." That was all it took. The Sangheili and Unggoy worked themselves up in frenzy wanting revenge. Cur had them hooked now he had to reel them in, "We will go to the island city and take back what belongs to us, and we will kill any Jiralhanae or anybody who stands in our way." A chorus of cheers and praise met this last statement.

Cur stepped down off the rubble, Tano walked up to him, "Good speech brother now they have a purpose, but just one question."

Cur eyed him, "You can say what you want, and you know that."

Tano shrugged and asked his question, "How do you expect to get us to the island city, if you haven't noticed there is a good seventy of us here, we won't be able to move around too much without getting noticed."

Cur looked up at the moon. It reminded him of the two moons Qikost and Suban, back on his home world of Sanghelios. How he missed it so; he hadn't been home for over three annual cycles now (or three years in human terms). He turned to his friend and stared into his large hazel eyes, "Do not worry brother we will find a way."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**October 21, (Military Calendar) /**

**Warehouse District, Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

The silence of the night was broken by the crack of a BR55. Two grunts lay dead on the street, their light blue blood glowing on the black asphalt. The Brute minor accompanying them gave a roar of anger as the same BR fired on it.

Jace swore under his breath. He had hoped the first burst into the Brutes' head would be enough to kill it, but its damn shields had held. The Brute raised its plasma rifle and sprayed in the general direction of where it thought the enemy fire was coming from. Jace ducked back behind the truck he was using for cover. He keyed his COM, "Rookie lay down some suppressive fire while I reposition to get a better shot."

"Copy that, Jace," The Rookies voice sounded slightly bolder then it did when Jace had first met him. He was becoming a true ODST now. Derrick peered around the corner of the pillar he had been hiding behind. Raising his M7S he roared, "Eat this you big ugly ape!" flashes of gold appeared on the muzzle of his submachine gun as he peppered the Brute with 5 by 23mm M443 Caseless Full Metal Jacket rounds. The rounds didn't seem to affect the brute that much; he just smiled as the rounds bounced harmlessly off his shields. But that was all the time Jace needed; kneeling down in a crouch position he aimed his BR and fired twice.

The Brutes head snapped back from the first burst; its helmet flying off. The second shot ended its life. The Brute fell over like a tree after being cut down. "Woohoo, Yea, nice shooting Cole," the Rookie did a jump of joy. Jace made his way slowly to the dead Brute. It looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a gorilla. He gave it a solid kick to ensure it was dead. The rookie formed up next to him, "What the hell is that? I've never seen this type of Covenant species."

Jace knelt down and took off two spike grenades the Brute was carrying. The grenades were peculiar. It was essentially an ovular head with a shaft protruding from its bottom; multiple spikes were present on the spike. Jace placed the spike grenade on the armor along his thigh. At three feet long it came down just a little pass his knees. He handed the other to the Rookie who shook his head not wanting one. Jace shrugged and placed the grenade back down next to its original owner.

"There called Brutes," Jace explained as he began to make his way down the empty street; the rookie hard on his heels, "They were spotted during the harvest campaign nearly 30 years ago." Jace halted at a corner and peered around; BR raised. Seeing nothing he moved forward, "They aren't as common as there Elite counterparts, and humans have only see them here and there since the beginning of this damn war."

"Have you ever fought them before now?"

"Yes once on the planet Sigma Octanus IV, back then we didn't know what the hell those things were; a pack of like six of them wiped out half of my platoon of thirty. It had been a slaughter feast." Jace had unintentionally stopped as he recalled the event. Carmine seeing this realized he might have asked too many questions, "I'm sorry Corporal; I bet the men you lost there were brave soldiers."

"Every single one of them," Jace grimaced, "now I'm gonna _kill_ every fucking ape we see, with no mercy." Carmine smiled as the he followed the black ODST, _I'm glad that he's on my side._

The two ODST wandered through the empty streets of the warehouse district. A few days ago; before the Covenants invasion this area would be packed with the hustle and bustle of workers, even at night. Now it was a ghost town. The big empty dark warehouses looked menacing to Carmine as he followed Corporal Cole. They didn't run into any more Covenant patrols. "It's quiet Jace, where you think all the Covenant at?" Jace moved in a slight jog as he answered, "My guess is that the Covvies already ransacked the warehouses for all its supplies."

Carmine was catching on, "So there's no huge need for them to be guarding empty buildings."

"Correct my young padawan," Jace joked. He stopped at the entrance of one warehouse and peeked inside, "It also makes these empty buildings a key place to rest in." he opened the warehouse doors slowly trying to not make much noise. But the old rusted doors still creaked and groaned as they slid open. Carmine made his way inside as Jace closed the door.

Inside the warehouse there were boxes packed high full of nothing but Styrofoam and packaging chips. The two ODST sloshed through the knee high packaging tools as if they were trying to walk through snow. Jace led Carmine towards the back of the warehouse. Jace slouched against the wall and slid down into a sitting position, "Boy, am I tired." He went into his side pouches and pulled out a candy bar. He took off his helmet and rested it between his legs. He took a bite of the candy bar and looked as if he had orgasmed; something Carmine could see through his VISR.

Jace looked up at the still standing rookie, "What are you looking at rookie? Take a seat and have something too eat." He tossed him another candy bar, but Carmine tossed it right back. "No thanks Corporal, I got something a little more sufficient."

He sat down and unhooked his rucksack. Taking off his helmet as well; he opened the rucksack and took out a MRE. The MRE or _Meal Ready-to-Eat _was a self contained, individual field ration used by UNSC servicemen in the field. It consisted of enough food to feed a man for one day, mostly beef, peas and rice. Carmines at the moment consisted of a Beef patty and Beef slices with BBQ sauce. Jace had had a MRE but it had been crushed when he had hit the surface in his pod.

Carmine handed him some of the beef slices and half the Beef patty. Jace accepted them putting aside his candy bar. "Thanks Private." Carmine just shook his head and began to eat.

The moon was full tonight and the moon light shown right through the skylight of the warehouse and provided the ODST with adequate lighting. Jace looked up at the moon wondering if he would see it again after tonight. "That's the thing about being a soldier," he said taking a bite of the beef slice, "You never know if you will survive to see another beautiful thing such as the moon again, you have to cherish every moment you got, because you don't know when it's your turn to bite the bucket.

Carmine nodded in agreement. This was his first deployment and he already felt like he wasn't going to make it. Jace looked over at the rookie; _this is going against all my better judgment, but the rook ain't half that bad. _"So rook tell me more about yourself?"

Carmine almost choked on his patty. He hadn't been expecting Jace to even talk to him that much. "Well I'm from Manassas, Reach, I lived there my whole life, I thought it was the safest place in the universe." _Boy was I wrong._ "I always wanted to be a Helljumper. Just like my dad, and when he passed away fighting on Draco III I was devastated." Jace listened intently as the rookie continued, "I joined the marines the day right after my eighteenth birthday. My mom didn't want me to go, said I'll end up just like my father, but I knew it was what I had to do. I left for basic a week later. I became a regular marine, but I was stationed on garrisoned planets that had both already been attacked and repelled or were just simply by passed by the Covenant. I wanted to get some action. And I got my chance when a few recruiters came by for the Helljumpers. I was first in line to become one. Sadly while I was stationed on those planets the Covenant attacked my home world of Reach. As you know it was completely destroyed, billions dead, and the Covenant glassed the entire planet. My mom; she never made it out. Manassas was hit hard and destroyed. After that I trained to be a Helljumper and I was finally assigned to your company at the last second. Now I'm here in New York City, with no clue if I'll survive another day or not."

Jace nodded, feeling sympathy for him, "I fell ya man. I don't know one person who this war hasn't affected in a negative way." Carmine looked over at the corporal, "Tell me about your life Corporal."

Jace rested his corn rowed head against his hands and leaned back; shutting his eyes, "Maybe another time Carmine, now it's time for some rest." Derrick was surprised that Jace had called him Carmine instead of rookie. "Don't worry Jace, I'll get first watch for an hour or so then I'll come wake you."

Keeping his eyes closed Jace shook his head, "No need for a lookout. There's no Covvies in this area and if there were they would have to open that door, and you know how loud that thing is." Carmine hesitated, but then seeing the logic behind that lay back down and rested his head against his rucksack. Within a minute he was fast asleep.

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

The streets of Brooklyn heights were empty as any place could be. Cars park where their owners abandoned them, debris lay everywhere from the subsequent battle and plasma bombardment, and there were so many fires about that if looked at from the sky one could've swore that they were looking at the stars in space.

Yes the streets were empty; except for the fourteen black figures moving from shadow to shadow and cover to cover. The ODST of Alpha Company moved silently throughout the night. Not one of them made noise save for the occasional grunt as they vaulted over a fence or in Lombardi's' case stub their toe against a concrete block.

Bravo team led by the feisty lieutenant Aiko were assigned to head up north towards the AA gun that was located about a mile up the street. _A mile up the street my ass, _Lombardi muttered under his breath. They had left Liberty hospital exactly at midnight and had set off north into the night. A mile up the street would've taken ten minutes at the most to get there, they had been walking for almost an hour, and Lombardi had not gotten any sleep since the drop. This and the fact that he had slightly hurt his toe were beginning to anger him. And he began to show it.

"Ugh, Intel needs to get there head out of there ass and tell us exactly how far we have to go to find those damn guns." A couple other ODST muttered in agreement. However neither LT Aiko nor Gunny Fenix responded. The Gunny had gotten use to Lombardi's constant complaining, but LT Aiko hated it with a passion. Lombardi knew this and decided he would get a reaction out of her one way or the other.

"Nice choice LT, letting Captain Van Zandt tell you which AA gun to go after, I bet Alpha team has already gotten to theirs," he made gave out a loud sigh, "and of course I get stuck going to the gun that's farther away."

"Lombardi, do you ever get tired of bitching?" Aiko asked not even turning around. Lombardi smiled under his opaque visor, _got her._ "Do you ever get tired of busting my balls?"

Fenix shook his head, _ah Lombardi you are going to regret that._ Aiko still looked forward as she menacingly replied, "Oh I'll bust your balls alright. And your kids won't be able to have kids."

Lombardi had to hold back a snicker, "Hmm that seems like a date, dinner, movie and afterwards a good hardcore fuck. You are Japanese right? You guys like that freaky deeky stuff, yea I'm down for something like th…" The Japanese Lieutenant was quickly upon Lombardi. No one had even seen it coming. She moved with almost ninja like reflexes as she knocked him over and pinned him down. Pistol drawn at his face and her foot pressed a little to hard for comfort on Lombardi's groin plate.

"Don't you ever make fun of my culture again you little shit, or I'll cut you dick off and stuff it down your throat," Aiko hissed at him. Fenix knew this was getting out of hand, "Lieutenant, put away your gun, we have a mission to complete. And Lombardi keep your mouth shut and just be ready with those demo charges. You are our only way of blowing up those damn guns."

Aiko removed her foot and holstered her gun, "Very well Gunny, sorry I lost my composure there." She walked backed to the front of the group; the male ODST in her way giving her a wide berth. Ricky helped Lombardi up, "Hehe I knew you were going to get your ass kicked by her sometime during this mission."

Lombardi shrugged him off, "Ah shut up, that bitch is crazy." Ricky smiled and said, "Of course she is, she's Japanese. Your heard all that stuff she said about cutting your dick off." Lombardi nodded.

"Well back like five hundred years ago, during World War II, the Japs were known to cut off the genitals of U.S Marines and stuff them in your mouth, Ricky smiled, though it was invisible under his visor. "I guess those must've been her ancestors or something because it seemed to pass down from generation to generation," the sniper joked.

Lombardi smiled, "Hmm, where do you learn all that stuff?" Ricky chuckled, "When you are on leave and you have nothing better to do, sometimes only reading is available." Lombardi shrugged and the two hurried to catch up to the rest of the group.

Fenix fell in step with the fast moving Lieutenant, "Ma'am is everything alright, I know Lombardi can be sort of an asshole sometimes, but he is a good soldier." Aiko depolarized her visor and glanced over at the Gunny, "its okay Gunny, I've dealt with asshole like him a lot when I was in high school; bunch of perverts. Anyways back then I never defended myself but now I can and sometimes I get out of line." Fenix nodded in agreement, "That's tough LT, my life wasn't all that better."

Aiko nodded as she polarized up again. "Story time is over Gunny," she said in her command voice again, "the AA gun is in sight." She held up her hand halting the other dozen ODST behind them. They all crouched down. Ahead of them the silhouette of the humongous Covenant AA gun could be seen.

"Gunny I want you to take six men of your choosing and flank around to the east side of the gun, I'll take the rest and hit it from the west, wait for my command before doing anything." Fenix nodded and turned back to the group, "Essex, Li, Lombardi, Banks, Adams and Henson, you guys follow me. We are going to flank that gun from the east."

Fenix and the six Helljumpers chosen roadie ran into the cover of a nearby building. From there they moved through the building out the back into an alley way. They followed the alley; doing there best to stay out of the light of the nearby burning fires, until they came to the back of a small library. The library front was facing a large square, where the Covenants AA gun was placed.

They all crouched in a circle as Fenix went over his plan, "Alright we go in that library quiet, set up on the buildings front, but stay hidden within it." the half dozen troopers nodded. "Right lets go."

They entered through the buildings back door. The library was small; it was made even smaller by the large number of bookshelves that lined the walls and were placed in the center area. The group made their way pass the check out counter, there was a number of books that the librarian hadn't returned to the shelves yet. It gave off an eerie feeling, showing just how fast people evacuated the area when the Covenant came.

The group halted at the libraries front doors and window. Fenix took a peek through the closed blinds. Outside the AA gun stood there, looking as menacing as ever. The Anti Air emplacement stood on three legs that acted as a tripod for the barrel of the gun. The barrel was long and of a brownish orange color. As Fenix watched he saw the gun fire into the night sky. The teardrop shaped bolt flew up into the air in a straight trajectory; illuminating the whole area in a greenish glow as it went.

That was enough sightseeing for the Gunny, "Alright we got to take that gun out before we lose anymore ships." He looked out again and saw a few parked cars out in the street, "Team lets move out into the street, and use those cars for cover." Banks spoke up, "Are you sure Gunny, that'll leave us pretty exposed."

Fenix nodded, "Trust me, Ricky stay close on my ass, imma need you for this part of the mission." The sniper nodded hefting his sniper rifle. Fenix slowly opened the door of the library. He slowly crept out till he was in the shadow of the closest car. He turned and signaled for the rest to follow him. They too slowly slipped out making no noise at all and took position among the cars that littered the street. Fenix roadie ran from car to car till he was about half way across the street. Li skidded to a halt next to him, "What's the plan sir?"

Fenix didn't answer; he looked over the hood of the car slowly, and peered out at the gun. Below the gun a brute Captain Major in his golden power armor and wielding a plasma carbine, led a patrol of at least twenty grunts and another two brute minors. Up on the gun itself, he spotted a jackal sniper, armed with a beam rifle.

He ducked back behind the car and looked over at Ricky, "Jackal sniper up on top of the gun, he's your top priority, then you shift your fire to the golden armored brute, me and the others will handle the grunts and brute minor." Ricky nodded and prepped his sniper. Fenix keyed his COM, "LT, we are in position, and ready to engage on your mark." Aiko's voice crackled over the COM, "Roger Gunny, you are free to engage."

"Right ma'am," Fenix nodded at Ricky, "Go loud." Ricky propped his sniper up onto the hood of the car and sighted on the Jackal sniper. Through the magnified scope he could see the jackal. With its beak like mouth and bulbous eyes it gave the appearance of a bird.

Ricky took a breath and entered his sniper trance, after a moment he fired. The sound echoed quite loudly throughout the darkened area, it was probably heard for miles. The jackals head exploded as the bullet passed through it and punched a hole in the AA guns hull. Ricky shifted his aim towards the ground where the grunts were squeaking and shuffling in surprise and the brutes were looking around for targets.

By this time Lieutenant Aiko and the others all fired at once. Bullets ripped into the grunts and some ignited their fuel tanks blowing them up like mini fireworks. The brutes fired in quick succession; though by the trajectory of their shots they didn't know where they were firing at. The Captain Major took out a little oval like object and threw it on the floor. A golden energy shield sprouted out of the object and encased the brute within. The other two brutes got within as well, along with a squad of six grunts.

Bullets pinged harmlessly off the shield. Fenix knew that they were in trouble; it had looked like the Brutes had found where much of the fire was coming from. The shield suddenly disappeared. However this didn't affect the brutes at all. The Captain Major ordered the grunts to charge there position while the two brute minors swiveled around to engage LT Aiko and her men.

The grunts charged forward with reckless abandon, firing their plasma pistols at the ODST. But the cover of the cars was enough to stop the little green blobs of plasma. Fenix popped up and quickly put down two grunts with suppressive fire. However he didn't see the Captain Major take aim at his head with its Plasma Carbine. Ricky did.

Ricky fired once from his SRS99D. The round flew out with a white tail of smoke trailing it, and it took the brutes head completely off. "Hot damn! Nice shot," someone yelled over the COM. Ricky smiled at the kill, though deep down inside he wished that had been an Elite so he could mark it down as one of his kills.

The rest of the grunts and Brutes were finished off after a few more minutes. Not one Helljumper had been injured in the attack, a feat that they cherished greatly. The fourteen ODST came to the base of the AA gun. Fenix and Aiko shook hands as the others congratulated each other on a job well done. "Now let's blow this thing and get back to Liberty for some much needed R&R," Aiko commanded, looking over at Lombardi she said in a sincere voice, "Lombardi, dear will you please place the detonation charges on the legs of this thing so we can get outta here." Lombardi bowed and replied, "Anything for you darling." Fenix had no idea what just happened and he really didn't care he just wanted to get some rest. It had been along day and night for them all. "Everyone else set up a perimeter, lets make sure no more bad guys ruin our lovely night."

Lombardi placed the charges on each of the three legs. He then started punching in the codes for each device. He was taking a little too long for Fenix's taste, "Hurry up with those charges will ya."

"Do you want to do this," Lombardi snapped back as he punched in the final codes, "Cause this ain't a job you want to rush." He quickly ran out from under the base of the gun into the cover of the cars where the other ODST were gathered.

"That do it?" Aiko asked. Lombardi didn't respond he simply pressed the detonator in his hand. There was a big explosion. The three legs of the gun quickly fell out from under it. The barrel of the gun fell into one of the nearby buildings; crumbling it completely. Aiko nodded in approval at the demo mans handy work, "Nice, now lets get back to command, I don't know bought you guys but I need a much needed rest."

The other Helljumpers responded with nods and the occasional "Oorah" for agreement. The fourteen Helljumpers began the long march back to Liberty Hospital.

It was another hour and a half before they got back to the hospital. A majority of the building was dark because of the massive blackout the city had experienced when the Covenant attacked. What little light was from a backup generator and that was only going to the rooms that had marines with sever enough injuries they needed a machine or an IV to help them. Everybody else had to sit in the dark or use what flashlights they had.

For Lieutenant Aiko being in the dark wasn't that big of a deal, with the VISR feature on their HUD's the ODST could see in the dark perfectly. Aiko made her way pass countless marines of the relived Charlie Company. Most were sleeping, some were eating and others just sat there looking out at the wall in front of them with blank stares.

Aiko had seen that before on many soldiers. It was the thousand yard stare and soldiers usually get it after going through intense firefights and battles. Aiko had experienced it after the Battle of Reach; where she lost about a half of her company.

She walked past the battle weary marines to the 2nd floor command center. Despite it being the middle of the night it was as busy as before. Captain Van Zandt stood next to Major Harper. The two were in deep conversation when Aiko arrived. She saluted, "Captain Van Zandt, Lieutenant Aiko reporting in sir." Van Zandt returned the salute, "At ease LT. How did your mission go?"

"We successfully destroyed the Covenant AA gun sir, and we took no casualties." Van Zandt smiled, "That's what I like to hear, but we aren't out of the woods yet Lieutenant."

"What do you mean sir?"

Van Zandt motioned over to Major Harper, "Major Harper's drones picked up a large Covenant group massing in the Brooklyn Bride Park, with more on the way." Aiko looked worried now, "A counter attack sir?" Van Zandt nodded, "Yup, the Covies must've figured the last human resistance in the city is in Liberty Hospital, now they look like they planning to come at us full force."

"What about reinforcements?"

It was Harper who answered her question, "The 81st armored brigade is en route to the city now, but they are coming from New Jersey and with so many damn Covenant in the area it'll take them a few hours to get here, hopefully they make it by dawn." Aiko nodded, understanding the situation.

"So get your rest now, Lieutenant," Van Zandt instructed, "Cause you're going to need it." Aiko nodded and proceeded to leave the crowded command center. "And LT," Van Zandt called after her, "Tell the rest of the men in the company."

"Aye, sir." Aiko went around finding the remainder of the ODST of Alpha Company telling them the disappointing news. She went to the area Gunnery Sergeant Fenix and his squad sat. they had their helmets off and were talking amongst themselves. "Yo Gunny, got bad news for you."

"Are you pregnant?" Lombardi burst out, "Damn so you had sex with a guy like the Gunny here, but you wouldn't spare time for a stud like me." Ricky snickered but made sure not to let Aiko see him laughing.

Aiko ignored him and turned back to Fenix, "Looks like the Covenant are preparing a massive attack on the hospital. The attack should come by 0900 hours."

"How large is the attack force?" Fenix inquired. She spread her arms out to their full length, "Huge, you and your boys' better rest up now."

Before Fenix could answer, Lombardi smoothly said, "I'll rest up if you join me Lieutenant." Aiko rolled her eyes before walking away. Fenix could've sworn that she said something about _Lombardi_ and _fragging_, but he decided to not worry about it. the thing he was more worried about was this Covenant attack.

Turning to his squad he asked, "How are you guys on ammo?"

"I'm good for another go at the bastards," Ricky said as he polished his sniper.

Lombardi lay back on the floor and proceeded to close his eyes, "I have about two more clips for my M7 and if anything I could just take up some dead marines' shotgun and use the ammo pelt around my leg."

Ricky seemed made at the statement, "Come on man, how you just going to sell the grunts out like that, they fight just as hard as we do."

"Just saying, but come dawn there is going to be a lot of dead marines and ODST."

Ricky shook his head at the comment. Although he didn't approve Fenix knew that Lombardi was right, _come dawn there is going to be a lot of dead people_.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Downtown Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

_What a weird twist this mission has taken, _Ellie thought to herself as she followed closely behind Azo. The two made their way down the dimly lit streets of Brooklyn. On her VISR Azo was depicted as hostile, with red outlining his body on her HUD. Despite this; so far the Elite had good intentions. He didn't talk much, only to order her to take cover or to move silently.

They had been moving since they had teamed up all those hours ago. It had been a long march and frankly she was tired. "Come on Azo, let's take a break I'm pooped."

The Elite swiveled around on his heels and faced the human, "You can take a break human _Eli,_ but I'm going to keep moving on, I can't let some human slow me down."Ellie took note that he couldn't pronounce her name right. Shaking her head the ODST retorted with, "I mean I did save your life and all, you kind of owe me, so I say we should take a break."

Azo rolled his eyes, "Fine very well, we will take a break; _only five minutes though_." Ellie shrugged, five minutes was at least a start. She sat down and checked her equipment. Her M7S was in good shape and her rucksack had all the medical supplies she needed. She was about to take off her helmet when she noticed a shape moving low in the sky towards their position.

"_Phantom!" _she pointed out. She adorned her rucksack and pulled back the stock on her M7S. Azo leapt up out of the resting position he was in; carbine raised.

The darkened purple hull of the Covenants Premier dropship glowed in the dawn light as it moved in for the kill. It passed over head and didn't fire. "You think they saw us?" Ellie questioned as she watched the dropship go overhead.

"Yes," Azo replied as he tracked the trajectory of the dropship, "They just did a pass to get a visual on us, next time around they are going to attack." As if on a cue the Phantom slowed then turned 360 degrees and made a beeline back to their position.

Ellie fired her SMG as she backpedaled to the cover of a nearby dumpster. Azo stood his ground. The Phantom fired its chin mounted plasma cannon. Azo easily dodged the slow moving globs of energy, but he still has yet to return fire. The phantom angled itself so its starboard side was facing the duo. The side gunner; a grunt, fired the plasma cannon in rapid succession. Azo wasn't fast enough to dodge these shots. His energy shield faltered for a moment before it completely dissipated. Azo didn't even budge. He sighted up his Covenant Carbine and fired. The green bolt of fast moving plasma took the top of the grunts skull off. It fell limp off of the tiny platform that extended outside of the Phantom.

Azo tucked and rolled behind the cover Ellie was hiding behind. As he took cover, Ellie popped up and sprayed the dropship. Fire from the chin cannon caused her to duck back behind cover. "Nice shooting," she commented as she slapped a fresh clip into her gun.

The Elite simply nodded. He peeked out from behind the dumpster. The sides of the Phantom opened up and released its troops; after they had disembarked they flew up out of the street; where they were vulnerable. Three Jackals and about a dozen grunts hopped the ten feet to the floor. The vulture like aliens hid behind their energy shields as they brought their C shaped plasma pistols up. The grunts moved forward, slowly advancing to the dumpster.

The Elite and ODST met eyes for a second and then nodded to one another. They both hopped out of cover. Ellie fired into the mass of grunts, while Azo threw two well aimed plasma grenades at the jackals. The nades landed right behind the shield using aliens and detonated. The resulting explosion sent the Jackals flying which ever way. The grunts, not expecting the duo to charge them yelped in surprise as their lives were ended by Ellie and her M7S.

Three of them however retreated into a nearby parking garage.

"Lets' go after them," Ellie said readying her Submachine gun. Azo nodded readying his own rifle.

The duo entered the parking garage slowly. The garage was two story and was packed full of abandoned cars. Some of the cars seemed to be so old that they were beginning to rust. The area was a perfect place for an ambush. Three grunts could make short work of Ellie if they caught her by surprise.

"Shit, this is just like the _killhouse_, back in ODST training," She said with s slight hint of unconvidence. Azo glanced over at the human, in a low voice he said, "You have dealt with situations like this before?"

Ellie nodded, "Yea, back when I was training to become a soldier, we had this thing called the killhouse." The two stopped their forward progress and crouched while Ellie continued, "We would train their for counter terrorism tactics. It was hell. There was so many damn rooms the DI's would pop out anywhere and pop a round of TTR in us; it would knock the hell outta' us."

"Did you ever pass this _killhouse?"_ Ellie nodded again, "Sure thing I did, but it took nearly five tries through it before me n' my squad got it down. Good thing we did too never thought I would actually to use these damn tactics."

"Looks like you are going to need it now," Azo said smugly. The two began the dangerous game of hide and seek with the trio of Grunts. The first grunt hopped out from behind the car it was using; firing its plasma pistol. Azo shields easily held against the tiny green blobs of energy. He returned fire and put a shot right through the grunts forehead. The tiny alien fell over stiff as a stone. The two moved forward towards the 2nd floor of the garage.

They were about halfway across the 2nd floor when an overcharged plasma bolt smacked right square in the middle of Azos' back. He roared out in agony as his shields dissipated. Ellie quickly span around on her heels and put a burst right through the grunts neck. Blue blood spurted out as the grunt teetered over; hopping on its left foot as it fell.

Ellie smiled, "Better watch your back Elite." _**Zing**_! Azo barely missed Ellies head. But he hadn't been aiming at her; he had hit the final grunt in its chest. An overcharged plasma pistol shot buried itself into the pillar near Ellie. She spun around and looked at the lifeless corpse of the grunt, _"Dang," _was all she could get out.

"Better watch your back human," Azo retorted; his mandibles moving into what Ellie perceived as a smile. He took a step forward before collapsing on his left leg. He grunted with pain as he tried to hold himself up, Ellie ran over to support him, "What's wrong?"

The alien shook his head, "nothing, just a minor wound." Ellie looked down at his left thigh and gasped. A gash at least eight inches long and probably a quarter of that deep sit there on his thigh. His indigo blood was still bleeding profusely, but it was barely noticeable on his similarly colored armor. That's why she hadn't been able to tell he was injured.

"That's definitely not a minor wound, you are losing a lot of blood" she said helping the Elite over to a wall and sat him down. "Here I have some medical supplies; it should heal your wound."

"In my culture, to lose ones blood is to lose ones honor," he growled, "however as long as he inflicted more damage than sustained the loss of honor is generally smaller than the amount gained. Yet if a warrior is so careless as to get himself badly wounded and lose too much blood, then it's either bleed out or visit a doctor,"

"And to visit a doctor and to lose blood during a healing procedure there is far from glorious among my people." Ellie depolarized her visor and looked into the Elites eyes, for the first time Azo was seeing the humans face and he was surprised to find _it_ was a she.

"Don't worry Bio foam won't cause you to lose anymore blood," she said taking out an oval shaped container with a muzzle on the top. Azo rolled his eyes again, "If you must human."

She injected the muzzle into the Elites thigh and pressed the trigger. Azo felt a stinging sensation for a second before the refreshing cool feeling of the liquid settled in.

"There done," Ellie said packing up her medical supplies.

"That was quick," Azo said hiding his admiration.

"Yup, that's how we humans do it," Ellie said taking a seat next to the alien. She took her helmet off and Azo now saw the face of his comrade. Her short cut blonde hair was the first thing he noticed. He saw that she had the long eye lashes and lips that were associated with human females. And come to think of it he did notice that her armor was a little more spacious in the chest area, obviously to give room for her breast.

There was awkward silence for a little bit before Azo broke it, "Thank you Human, you probably saved my life yet again." Ellie smiled, "No problem, though you owe me twice now."

Azo chuckled before asking his next question, "They let females fight in your military?"

Ellie seemed surprise at the question, "Of course they do, have for hundreds of years. What in the Covenant they don't allow females to fight?" Azo looked down at his wound as he answered, "For the Kig-yar and Unggoy we do, but us Sangheili have a proud warrior tradition and women don't fit the criteria for battle."

"_San-gheili_, is that what you guys are called?" Azo nodded, "Yes we are the strongest of the Covenant and were the protectors of the Prophets until the bastard Jiralhanae, or as you humans call them brutes took over and began hunting my kind down."

"I think I'm going to stick to calling you guys Elites," she adopted a more serious tone as she went on, "So the brutes and the elites are at it. Sort of like a Covenant civil was eh?"

"Pft, I don't know if you want to call this a civil war, my kind will destroy the treacherous brutes and I will personally kill that bastard Chieftain Dractus, and avenge my fallen comrades," Azo had a hint of anger burning in his voice as he roared the statement.

Laying down on her rucksack Ellie responded, "Well you can't go killing Brute chieftains tired, it's best you get some sleep."

"Very well human," he was beginning to like this human female. Usually these vermin disgusted him, but this one had gained his respect greatly over the last few hours, even if she was a female. "Sleep well Ellie."

He sat there and made sure she had fallen asleep before he himself drifted off into slumber.

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Warehouse District, Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

A nightmare is a dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear and/or horror. Jacen Cole was having a nightmare. It was a recurring one he has been having ever since the day that his old squad mate, Weathers was killed in action on Nexus.

_Jace was on a cliff side overlooking a large valley. The valley was a lush environment, one of the rare sights seen on Nexus. The foliage was a powerful green and covered the entirety of the valley. All except one area in the center of the two overlooking cliffs. _

_The area was a perfect circle three hundred yards in diameter. Filling up the circle were hundreds, if not thousands of Covenant troops, ranging from different species. They filled up every square inch except for a small landing pad area._

_Next to Jace on the cliff side Ricky lay prone looking through the scope of his sniper. Next to Ricky was a burly ODST. He was much bigger then anyone else in the squad; standing at least half a foot over the tallest member, Jace. He also lay prone but he had the spotting device used by spotters. The rest of the squad was spread out and guarding the perimeter. Jace was only with the sniper team because he was supposed to provide close support if any Covenant got through their lines and made a beeline for the duo. _

"_Wind, twenty-two miles due east, adjust aim accordingly," the burly ODST said in a heavy British accent. Ricky nodded and adjusted his aim slight to the west to compensate for the wind. _

_Their target would be coming out onto that landing pad at any moment. "So what again exactly is the mission?" Jace inquired. Grunting with annoyance the burly ODST answered, "Well if you listened during the briefing instead of sleeping like you always do, you would have heard that we are going to take down one of the covenants prophets."_

"_Prophet eh?" Jace replied as he polished his BR for the umpteenth time. _

"_Yup," the burly ODST as he checked his spotting device again, "__this particular minor prophet is the "holy leader" of the regional covenant forces, and taking him out will cripple their morale and dozy down their forces a little tad."_

_Jace shook his head as Gunnery Sergeant Fenix's' voice came on over the COM, "Weathers, report in, any sight of the prophet?" The burly ODST answered, "No sir but we are keeping watch for him." _

_Carl Weathers was a Corporal and was 2__nd__ in command among the squad. He was around thirty and was a veteran of many campaigns in recent years. He had garnished the respect of everyone in the squad and was renowned for his watchful eye. This made him the perfect spotter for Ricky._

"_Speak of the devil," Ricky said pointing over to the other side of the valley. Jace followed his path and saw the odd shape of a Covenant phantom moving towards the assembly below. The ship was adorned with what Jace assumed were holy glyphs, the design was even odd for the covenant. "Looks like that is our boy."_

"_What tipped you off," Weathers joked. The phantom hovered over the assembly for a little bit before it began descending into the mass below. It stopped about ten feet off of the floor. A purple gravity beam protruded from its underside and a squad of eight honor guard Elite exited the dropship. They quickly formed a line; four on each side. Another being came out of the dropship. The being looked frail, its legs seemed to dangle uselessly over the front of its gravity chair. __It had a long, thin neck which supported a somewhat disproportionately large head. It wore red and orange robes and adorned a head piece that reminded him of the old daimyos of feudal Japan. This was a Covenant Prophet. _

"_Quickly line up the shot," Weathers murmured, "Winds coming from the east twenty-five miles." Ricky adjusted his sniper again. He sat silent as cat and still as a statue as he entered his sniper trance._

_The prophet was now moving through the cluster of Covenant troops. To Jace it reminded him of a president moving throughout a crowd of people who were congratulating him on his recent victory. _

_Ricky said in a low audible, "Taking the shot." He fired._

_The shot sounded like two cars hitting each other. It was deafening, but not for an ODST in a soundproof helmet. The 14.5 x 114mm armor piercing round flew straight and true. It hit the Prophet straight in the forehead. Its head snapped back hitting the chair on its frill. His head flopped to the side as his gravity chair ran into a nearby Honor Guard Elite. The Honor Guards looked down at the body in surprise, then their heads swiveled back and forth as they looked for the assassin._

"_Well time to go," Ricky said getting up and shouldering his rifle. The other two ODST nodded in agreement and got up as well. The chorus of roars was becoming louder as the other Covenant there realized their leader had been killed. _

"_Sergeant Fenix, this is Weathers, target has been neutralized we are making our way to you." _

"_Good job Helljumpers," Fenix replied over the COM. The trio made their way into the forest. It really wasn't a forest per say, the trees had been completely burned by a recent forest fire and almost every tree was burned and had no leaves on them. _

_Suddenly the ground exploded about 50 meters to their right. They watched as a bluish white arc of light flew over there heads and detonated in front of them. "Plasma mortars, they found our position, how?" Jace asked in a panic. Weathers grabbed him by the shoulder armor and pushed him into a run, "__It doesn't matter how, just move dammit." _

_They all sprinted into the forest, dodging plasma as it came down all around them. Jace cut left then dodged right, he had lost Weathers and Ricky in the commotion and he had no idea where the rest of the squad was._

"_Fall back fall back!" That was Gunnery Sergeant Fenix yelling over the COM. A shadow flew over him, he looked up to see two Covenant Phantoms pass over head and move forward about a hundred yards. They fired their chin mounted plasma cannons at something in the forest to the right. _

_Hope everyone is alright, he thought to himself. Now that Phantoms were in play he knew that they would deploy ground troops to swarm the forest looking for them. He sprinted forward; moving so fast that some of the trees were becoming a blur now. He crashed through the under brush and was surprised at there being a small cliff on the other side. Jace fell around fifthteen feet and collided with the ground with a thump._

_He awoke a few minutes later in a daze. He opened his eyes and saw that his vision had was partially blurred. He also felt a sharp pain on his chest and it was hard to breath. He looked sown to see the damage and was even more surprised._

_A purple armored Elite had its two toed feet on his chest, pinning him. He looked up and saw its mandibles twist into an awkward smile as it raised its Plasma Rifle at his head. Jace laid his head back down waiting for the inevitable, but it never came. He looked up just in time to see Weathers shoulder charge the Elite into the rocks nearby. The Elite seemed stunned by the attack but quickly recovered. It drew out an odd object. _

_Twin blades flew out of the object. It gave a defiant roar as it reared its arm back for a swing. However Weathers anticipated the attack and when the Elite lunged forward he side stepped it and gave out a solid jab to the aliens left mandibles. It staggered back, but quickly swung again. Weathers ducked and attempted a solid upper cut. The Elite skillfully dodged the punch and kicked Weathers to the ground. It lunged forward to stab at him in a downward thrust. He rolled to the right and quickly got up. _

_Jace was still in a daze, but he knew he had to help his fellow trooper. He looked around for his BR and saw that it had landed about twenty yards away. He began to crawl after it as fast as he could, but in his incapacitated state it was a slow process. _

_Weathers drew his own CQC weapon, a long knife; pretty much a small machete. The elite seemed to like the idea of a close quarters fight and charged with a roar. Weathers side stepped the lunge and stabbed with his own. The Elite dodged and the two entered a state of parries and dodging, stabbing and slashing. _

_Jace crawled as fast as he could. He had just gotten to his BR when he heard a grunt of pain coming from the fight. He turned onto his back and saw Weathers impaled by the Elites sword. The two prongs penetrated his armor and then through his vital area in his chest and out the back of his armor. He had been lifted at least a foot of the floor. He at first screamed in agony but suddenly he lunged forward with his knife. He stabbed the Elite right in its neck. It let go of its sword hilt and the blade deactivated. Weathers fell to the ground in a heap._

_Jace had been too shocked by his friend getting stabbed to react fast enough. He got out of his shock and then sighted through his BR scope. He fired one burst, the rounds finding their mark on the Elites triangle shaped head. Blood sprayed onto the rocks behind it as it fell in a pool of its own blood. _

_Jace quickly shook himself out of his daze and made his way over to Weathers. The burly British ODST lay there his hand was over his chest. He moved his hand away as Jace approached. His glove was covered in crimson blood. His wound wasn't to good looking._

_The sword had penetrated him around the heart and probably had a ruptured lung. "Hold on, Weathers, I'll get you some help," Jace keyed his COM, "Torres Weathers is down and in pretty bad shape, get over to my position now!"_

_Weathers grabbed his arm, "Nah don't even make trip, it's too late." Jace took his arm, "Don't talk like that, you're going to make it."_

_Weathers rested his head against the ground, depolarized his visor. "I'm not going to make it," he looked up at the sky, "I hear it's pretty nice in heaven, no war, no problems. I think I'm going to enjoy it up there." Those were his last words; Carl Weathers died right then and there in his friends arms. Jacen couldn't control it, he cried and cried he couldn't help it. This man had sacrificed himself to save him. _

"Jace."

He awoke pistol drawn and aimed at the being in front of him. Carmine put his arms up to show he wasn't a threat, "Whoa, sorry corporal, you were moving and stifling in your sleep I thought you were in trouble."

Jacen lowered his pistol, "Nothings wrong it's okay."

Carmine shrugged, "Okay, hey listen it's dawn we should get moving before the sun completely comes up." Jace shook his head, "Yea, yea, take point I'll be out soon as I get situated."

Carmine nodded, turned and headed towards the warehouse door. Jace got up and adorned his helmet. He made his way outside. All around the city a slight fog had settled down. Combined wit the multiple fires and columns of smoke, the city had very ominous feeling.

He looked up at the sky, it was blue and the clouds were looking like little pillows of relief. _I hope it's nice up there in heaven Weathers, because it's hell down here. _Pulling back the stock on his BR he made his way through the fog towards the spot the rookie was standing. Both of them were ready for a new day and another round to give the Covenant hell.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

"Incoming," a trooper yelled. The ODST's of Alpha Company ducked as giant ball of plasma arced over the edge of the hospital and impacted in the center of the roof; leaving a massive hole.

Well the Covenant hadn't attacked at day break like predicted. They had attacked a few hours later after the sunrise. They came with armor and infantry; a ton of infantry. Two Wraiths sat on Cooper Street and fired volley after volley of plasma mortars at the hospital.

The twenty odd something Helljumpers of Alpha Company had been assigned to roof detail. The Marines of the 501st were spread out over the hospital. Bravo Company had been assigned to guard the front entrance. They were spread out in a huge semi circle from the entrance, taking cover behind whatever they can; cars trees and even a few had just dug foxholes in a nearby garden. Charlie Company had been relieved from their parking lot detail a few hours before and they sat within the halls of the 1st and 2nd floors. They had boarded up many windows and only left a small gap for a firing slit. They all sat, stood, crouched and had waited for two hours for the inevitable attack at dawn. While they were waiting an eerie fog had settled in, giving some of the men the spooks. They sat around for two hours when suddenly the two Wraiths parked themselves out on Cooper Street and began firing.

. Through the light fog, they could see hundreds of Grunts moved out from the baseball field across the street from the hospital. They looked as if they had materialized out of no where. They marched with pride, confident that the Wraiths fire would be adequate covering fire. The Grunts crawled over the bodies of their deceased comrades from the day before.

"_Hold your fire," _Captain Van Zandt said over the COM to the mass of ODST, "_Wait till my mark." _They all sighted up their weapons. Weapons ranging from BR55, MA5C Assault rifles, Snipers, SMG's and even a couple DMR rifles. The first few dozen grunts came off of the pile of their dead buddies and entered the parking lot itself. "_That's it, OPEN FIRE!" _

All at once the twenty-eight Helljumpers fired their respected rifles. The opening salvo took the down the first forty or so grunts in the group. Dozens of other rifles opened up as well as the marines of Bravo began to put fire down on the tiny aliens.

To call this turkey shoot was a under statement, it was a _massacre_, dozens of grunts fell. There was so much grunts that many who were killed couldn't even fall back, they were just pushed along by the rest of their comrades. The grunts that were armed charged with reckless abandon. They fired their plasma pistols with little accuracy, but all they had to do was fill every little space with their guns and they were bound to hit something. A few of the marines of Bravo Company went down under the barrage; the rest ducked and fired when they could.

The two AIE-486H Heavy Machine Guns placed below opened up. They spewed 7.62x51mm Sabot Light Armor Penetrator rounds at a high rate of fire; into the grunts lines. The little aliens squealed and screamed in agony as the rounds cut them down.

Sergeant Fenix felt a little bad for the little guys, but he still fired his MA5C in short controlled burst, hitting whatever grunts he could from this distance. He ducked down to reload. He removed the cartridge and went to get a spare from his webbing, but there was none left. "Shit," he said looking around, "I'm out of ammo, I need a mag."

"Here you go Gunny," Gibson said from a few men down, he tossed the magazine over. Fenix caught it expertly, "Thanks Gibbs." He popped back over the low wall of the roof and fired. There were still plenty of grunts left and the marines were putting some hot lead down on the bastards. Fenix fired with no real aiming, there was no need to really aim when your target was as big as a small lake.

Fenix ducked down as a few needlers rounds flew over his head. Next two him Sergeant Hawks fired his DMR, the gun clicked when it was empty. He turned and ducked and reloaded. He looked over at the gunny, "Why are they sending in grunts again? You would think they would've learned their lesson the first time."

Fenix checked his current ammo, _18 rounds left,_ "They are just using the grunts as cannon fodder. They are just trying to dwindle down our ammo, then they'll move in with the heavier troops." As if on cue, _"Aw shit here come the Jackals and those big as Bravo Kilos," _someone said over the COM.

Fenix peered over the wall and glanced down at the sight below. At least a hundred Jackals with their purple wrist gauntlets marched forward. They moved forward in two rows of fifty, with their energy shields placed right next to each other to create an impenetrable wall. Thirty meters behind the Jackal lance, around sixty Brutes moved sluggishly. They seemed to hesitate on going forward; letting their subordinates do most the work.

There was still plenty of brutes left and the other marines fired on them, but Captain Van Zandt ordered the ODST's to shift their fire to the Jackals. The shields held there own under the suppressive fire; a few dropped down and their owners slaughtered, but the majority held.

"Those damn shields are too strong," a trooper near Fenix complained. Fenix thought about it for a minute before speaking over the COM, "Captain, we need to get some grenades behind those jackals' shields."

Van Zandts' response was almost immediate, "_You got any ideas Gunny, we are open to suggestions." _

"Right, if anyone's got any grenades left, on the count of three toss them over as far as you can, try to get behind those shields."

There was a murmur of _yessir _over the COM. Fenix took off the grenade strapped to his chest and pulled the pin, "One…two…three, throw!" only about a dozen ODST had any extra grenades and on three they heaved them out into the parking lot below. Fenix had been a star baseball pitcher when he was in high school, and it showed in his throw.

A jackal must've noticed the nades when they were in the air, because all at once they moved into action. The second row quickly overlapped their shields with the first row and created a half dome shield. About half the grenades bounced off of the shields and detonated in front of them. The other half flew pass the shield group and landed behind the jackals. The vulture like aliens didn't have any time to react before they were sent up in a huge explosion. The jackals went up in every which way. There was still many left but they were greatly disoriented. Only by "urging" from the brutes behind them did they reform and move forward again.

The Covenant forces charged forward. The remaining grunts were about forty meters from the entrance. Bravo Company engaged them but it wasn't an easy task. The Grunts moved into the area where the cars and ambulances were the most populated. The two warring factions entered into a dangerous game of hide n; seek within the car. Both sides seeking to destroy the others.

The ODST's and members of Charlie Company fired on the fast approaching jackals and brutes. The Wraiths fired again, "Man down!" he heard one of the marines below say. The marine manning the chain gun _and the chain gun itself_,had been vaporized by one of the plasma mortars from the Wraith.

"Look out, banshees," someone noted behind him. He turned and saw a trio of the Covenants premier flier coming right at them. "_Get off the roof!" _Van Zandt roared over the COM. The Helljumpers needed no urging turned and sprinted back towards the door that lead up to the roof. Fenix and half of the others simply went down right through the hole made earlier by the Wraith. Unfortunately three Helljumpers hadn't been fast enough to get off the roof, they were cut down by the banshees strafing run.

Fenix landed with a thud on the second floor, the ODST that came in behind him almost knocked him over. He looked around at the chaos that was happening inside the hospital. Medics and Corpsmen ran around the place tending to the wounded in the rooms. They were also bringing and tending to the wounded marines from Bravo Company that had been brought inside.

A marine came out of a nearby room and signaled for him to come over. As he approached the marine said, "Trooper I need your help." Fenix nodded and followed the marine into the room.

Inside the room he got a surprise. A M68 Gauss Cannon sat perched near the window; its turret barrel pointing outside of the hospital. Also in the room was a disturbing sight, a marine lay dead near the turret; two spikes in his abdomen. He rested in a pool of his own blood.

"My partner took a couple rounds to the body, he died instantly," the marine said walking over to where five of the Gauss's 25x130mm Shells rounds lay, "I need you to fire, my aim is bad, and I'll load you up."

Fenix nodded and took his position on the M68's stand and sighted through the turrets sights. He sighted on a group of brutes, "Load me up marine." The marine put one of the canisters in the M68's loading slots.

The weapon uses an Asynchronous Linear-Induction Motor to produce a bipolar magnetic field capable of launching a 25mm x 130 projectile at an incredible speed of just under Mach 40, or approximately 13.7km per second. And Fenix put it to good use.

He fired into the group of brutes. The projectile tore through the first brute and carried into his two comrades. They all exploded into a gory mess. The canister quickly ejected and the marine placed another in. this time Fenix aimed for one of the Wraiths. The tank was just firing when he put a round right through its center. The tank seemed to stall for a second before it shut down and fizzled.

Fenix and the marine repeated the same thing over again. Eject, reload and fire. Fenix turned his attention towards the center of the slowly advancing Covenant. They were parting ranks and he noticed two big hulking figures moving through the crowd. The figures bashed a car away with little ease as if they were paper.

"_Shit Hunters, Bravo Company fall back, fall back!" _ Someone ordered over the COM.

Hunters were twelve feet tall and wore blue armor, their insides consisted of dozens of orange worm like creatures that formed together to become a hunter. Their weapons consisted of an armed mounted assault cannon and a shield that they could use to bash their opponents to a pulp.

Fenix aimed the M68 at the two hulking bipedal forms. He waited till the first one was completely in sight before he pressed the trigger. ….nothing happened. He looked at the marine loader; who shrugged, "We out of rounds." Fenix swore and left the room in a hurry. He almost ran straight into Lombardi.

"Lombardi just the man I was looking for, grab your rockets and meet me here in two minutes," he commanded. Lombardi was about to make a snappy comeback, but then thought better of it and went off to get his rockets.

Fenix and Lombardi filled up the space of a gaping hole. The hole had been formed by one of the wraiths mortars. Lombardi sat crouched, while Carter loaded him up. The hunters fired their assault cannons. A green stream of plasma ejected from the weapon and cut down a trio of unfortunate marines from Bravo who had been covering the retreat of their comrades.

Behind the Hunters dozens of Covenant warriors were hard on the heels of the retreating Bravo Company. The marines of Charlie tried to give them cover from the 2nd floor, but they couldn't stop them all. Half a dozen Bravo marines fell under the fire as they were hit in the back with spikes

"Wait till they are in range," Fenix ordered, putting the last rocket in the tube.

"You better not get me killed Gunny," Lombardi grunted. He hefted the weapon onto his shoulders. The closest Hunter growled as it noticed the duo of ODST. But it was too late. Lombardi fired and the rocket seared away. The 102mm High-Explosive Anti-Tank missile flew in a straight line; a trail of white phosphorous following it. The hunter never saw it coming. The shot went right between its shoulder armor and head armor.

It exploded in a gory spray of orange worms. Its spine spikes flew off and it keeled over dead as a door knob. Its bond brother gave a roar of anger at seeing its brother dead. It fired off a random shot at the 2nd floor windows. The Charlie marines ducked as the deadly green plasma washed over their position.

Lombardo quickly fired off another shot. The rocket flew straight and true. But the hunter anticipated the projectile and raised its shield to protect it from harm. However the rocket flew right past its shields and detonated on the ground right below the enormous beast. The dirt and cement blew up and out in every direction; turning into deadly shrapnel. The shrapnel tore right through the Hunters unprotected underside. The worms were sliced and diced as it passed through.

The Hunter though was still alive though, albeit wounded. Its worms were spilling out as it trudged forward roaring. Being wounded and losing his bond brother, the Hunter was a mad beast killing anything in its way. It shield bashed two jackals that were moving in front of it. It fired its assault cannon wildly.

The burst of plasma exploded all around the front part of the hospital. One of the burst hit the ground right in front of the two ODST and the ground parted and gave away. The duo fell forward an entire floor. They hit the cement floor outside. Fenix was slightly dazed. He looked to his left at the Hunter and saw a few marines from Charlie Company fire on the hunter and put it down for good. He looked forward and saw dozens of Covenant troop's running by them towards the main entrance. He looked over at Lombardi and saw that he wasn't moving.

A few of the Covenant that was going by stopped and fired on their position, before continuing on.

"Shit," Fenix ducked and dodged. He quickly grabbed Lombardi and pulled him to the safety of a nearby loading bay. The loading bay was used by ambulances as extra parking. Right now it was being used as temporary cover for the Helljumpers.

Fenix placed Lombardi against the back wall; he hoped the Covenants' stray shots hit him. He took his M6S out of his thigh holster and moved towards the opening of the loading bay.

He stacked up against the wall then slowly peered around the wall. There was still plenty of Covenant out there, despite a quarter of them probably already being inside the hospital. He hoped the marines could push the bastards back and somehow get to them.

A brute major noticed Carter and fired on him with his red plasma rifle. This variant of the plasma rifle fire much faster then its blue counterpart, but if memory served him any good, he remembered that it also over heated much faster as well. He counted out about six seconds, then he heard the sound of air escaping the gun as it attempted to cool off. He wheeled around and fired.

It took almost the entire clip just to take down the brutes' shields, but when they did fall, he put two shots right between its eyes. Fenix ducked back around the corner as the brute fell back dead. He quickly reloaded the pistol; putting in the last clip. He would have to make it count.

He quickly checked to make sure Lombardi was alright before going back to the opening. He slowly peered around the corner and his heart sank. The remaining Wraith tank had moved forward into the parking lot. It was now only fifty meter s from Carters position.

He raised his pistol and began firing. He knew it was pointless and that he was probably going to die, but hell he was going down fighting at least. He fired away. The bullets pinging off of the Wraiths purple hull.

The tank turned towards his position. Its Plasma Mortar opened up and began to glow; signifying it was about to fire. Fenix still fired. He was on his lasts round. He aimed at the brute who was manning the Wraiths plasma turret. He could see a ball of plasma begin to form on the mortars tip.

He fired. **KABOOM!**

The Wraith went up in a ball of bluish flames. Carter looked at his pistol, there was no way in hell he could've done that.

An AV-14 Attack VTOL, or commonly referred to as a Hornet, flew over the hospital. It hovered for a second; dispersing the fog around the front of the hospital, before firing on the Covenant ground troops. They scattered and retreated. The rear echelon of the Covies quickly turned tail and began to fall back across Cooper Street.

**BOOM! BOOM! **The ground where the retreating Covenant troops stood on exploded out from beneath them. Multiple aliens of all different kinds were rag dolled into the air.

"Who did that?" Fenix asked to himself. Suddenly the COM crackled and a gruff voice said, "_This is Curbstomper Company, 1__ST__ Tank regiment, 81__st__ Armored Brigade, how ya'll doing?"_

Fenix's' heart literally jumped at the transmission. Reinforcements had finally arrived.

**Authors Note****: Sorry about the bad quality of this Chapter, I have been busy with school work and what not. Can you believe I have a 1000 word essay assigned the first day of school. Anyways I haven't really had time to write my fanfics and when I do they might seem a little rushed. But by next week or the following week I should be back to my normal quality of storytelling. And thanks to all the people who have viewed my story, I really appreciate it and hope you continue reading in the future.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

A line of five M808b Main Battle Tanks or _Scorpions_ made their way down Cooper Street. they stopped at the entrance to Liberty Hospitals parking lot, there they formed up adjacent to each other and began to fire their 90mm High Velocity Cannon rounds at the retreating Covenant.

The fleeing aliens were blown to pieces. Flying in every direction as the ground beneath them exploded from cannon fire.

The three Banshees from earlier dived towards the tanks, but the Scorpions 7.62mm AP rounds tore into them. Two of the alien fliers went down in a ball of flame. The remaining one pulled up but went right into the line of fire of the Hornet. The gunship fire its missiles and the banshee blew to pieces.

Two more Hornets joined the first and the trio began firing at the fleeing Covenant. At this point it was a turkey shoot. The Covenant realized they lost and were now retreating in full back across the parking lot to the city; where they could hide and regroup at a later point. They were literally climbing over each other to escape. The once mighty Brutes were now running like scared children.

It didn't matter no how, the combination of tank and aerial support, combined with the fire from the remaining ODST's and Marines from the 501st most didn't get that far. By the end of five minutes the parking lot was littered with bodies of Brutes, jackals and grunts. In some places the bodies were pilled on top one another in piles a few feet high.

A trio of Armadillo APC's pulled up next to the Scorpions. A dozen marines hopped out of the back of each one. They quickly secured the area, their assault rifles raised. Fenix watched them all, by the fact that their battle armor wasn't scarred or charred, he could tell theses guys had not seen much action and weren't 501st. he had heard the tank commander say over the transmission that they were 81st Armored Brigade, so he figured theses marines were also 81st.

He heard a groan behind him. He turned and saw that Lombardi was awake now, albeit dazed, but awake. He walked back and helped up the demo man; putting his arms around his shoulders as he helped him to the opening of the loading ramp.

"What happened?" he groggily asked. Fenix chuckled, "We took a little spill and you bumped your head, but everything is okay now, reinforcements have arrived."

Lombardi shook his head, "that's good, reinforcements are always good."

The pair made their way outside. A marine with a cleanly shaven head and a bushy spiked up Mohawk approached them, "Hey you guys okay?" the marine looked around, "looks like you guys went through hell here."

"That's why we are called Helljumpers," Fenix joked as he and Lombardi made their way to the entrance of the hospital where marines from inside made their way outside to greet the new comers. He spotted Captain Van Zandt exiting the hospital and made his way over to him.

"Captain," Fenix said saluting with his free hand, "Gunnery Sergeant Fenix reporting for duty." The Captain took his helmet off revealing his gray hair and looked at the two ODST with astonished faces, "Wow, I heard you two were dead."

"Seems we came back from the dead," Lombardi said with renew vigor. Further conversation was cut short by the arrival of a young Lieutenant from the 81st. Saluting the Lieutenant said, "Captain, I'm Lieutenant Dyke, Easy Company, 81st Armored Brigade, what's the situation here?"

Returning the salute the Captain said, "Captain Van Zandt, Alpha Company 2nd Shock Troops Battalion, well as you can see el tee we took a helluva beating from this Covenant attack force, you and your men's timely arriving saved our asses."

"Just doing our job Captain," he looked around at the other gathering faces, "Are you the highest ranking person here?" Van Zandt shook his head, "No, that'll be Major Harper, I will take you to him if you like, but first things first, I have a lot of injured men and women here, a lot of them need critical attention, do you have any sort of transport or medical supplies we can have."

Dyke keyed his COM and it seems like he was having a conversation. After about one minute he turned back to the Captain, "My superior Colonel Winters has authorized the use of five Pelicans and they are en route now, once onboard the wounded will be taken to our forward operating base outside the city."

Van Zandt nodded as the Lieutenant continued, "Also Colonel Winter s is going to be on one of those Pelicans coming here, and he wants to have a talk with your Major personally."

"Right, we will go get our wounded and dead and prepare them for transport," Van Zandt replied turning and heading back to the hospital entrance, the small group of troopers followed suit, leaving Dyke and a few of his marines there to wait for the transports.

As they walked Van Zandt spoke, "two more ODST are dead, and three wounded including Lieutenant Aiko."

"Is she okay?" Lombardi asked with a hint of worry in his voice. Van Zandt nodded, "yes she is okay but she is going to be out of commission for a bit, probably for the rest of this op."

"What happened to her?" Fenix asked sternly.

"After we were forced into the hospital by those Banshees, I took the company and went to the first floor to help Bravo Company, who was being pushed back hard. We held the Covenant at bay for a little bit, but after a few minutes they began to push us back and it became a close quarter's hardcore brawl, next thing I know is Aiko is on the floor screaming she's hit, with a pike in her thigh." The group got out of the way as a pair of marines was carried out on stretchers. A third one was being pushed out too. Fenix and Lombardi instantly recognized the trooper, "El tee Aiko, how are you?"

Aiko glared at Fenix with eyes that could melt butter, "What do you think dick face, I have a spike in my fucking thigh and I can barely walk." Fenix put his arms up in mock surrender, "jeez sorry for caring."

Lombardi walked up to the Lieutenant, "Hey, what's this now, the might Aiko has fallen cause of a little spike in her leg, humph I knew you were to much of a pussy to stay and fight, should of stayed in the kitchen where you belong."

Fenix winced expecting the LT to get up off the stretcher and kick Lombardi's ass, but instead she just smiled and said, "I guess you were right Lombardi, you better survive the rest of this battle because after this I expect you to take me out on that date you promised me."

Lombardi saluted, "sure thing Lieutenant." With that Aiko was taken to the holding area for the wounded. Else where on the parking lot, the marines of the 81st were using bulldozers to push the Covenant bodies into a large pile. The pile was at least twenty feet high and twice that in length.

"What just happened between you two?" asked a confused Fenix. Lombardi smiled, "I just got myself a hot date after this whole fiasco is over." Fenix rolled his eyes; _I will never understand the way the world works._

Fenix and Lombardi entered the main lobby after Van Zandt. The lobby was a mess, blood stains every where and spent shell casings littered the floor, along the wall were black body bags; way too much for comfort. Fenix adverted his eyes from the bags and looked at the Captain, who was speaking into his COM. After a moment he turned to Fenix, "I'm going to meet with the Major, Gunny you and Lombardi help the others in picking up the bodies." Fenix nodded and motioned for Lombardi to follow him.

They made their way to the right of the lobby and froze. Blood soaked the wall of the corridor; both human and alien. Bodies lay strewn out along the length of the hallway. Most were of the Covenant but he saw some green fatigues of marines lying there as well. The whole scene was a testament of the intense fighting that had occurred there.

The ODST that weren't wounded were picking up the dead aliens and carrying them outside to the pile of dead. They were also placing their own dead inside the body bags. They spotted Ricky trying to pull a Brute corpse out from under a pile of grunts. The pair made their way over to lend a hand.

"Glad to see you're alive," Lombardi said as he grabbed the brutes other arm and began tugging, Fenix grabbed the shoulder and tugged as well. Ricky grunted as he replied, "Yea I was up in the crow's nest popping covvie bastards from afar, got half a dozen of these brutes."

"Nice very nice," Fenix complimented. They finally got the brute free and began the long pain staking journey of carrying him outside to the pile. Once there they threw him the best they could onto the pile of dozens of dead alien corpses. Hundreds of flies had arrived on the scene and were taking their fill of the dead.

"Whew, that was tiring," Ricky said taking his helmet off to wipe his forehead, but he quickly threw it back on as the amount of flies was too much. Lombardi swung with his fist to hit the little pest but it was no could, "Damn flies, how much more corpses do we need to bring out here?"

Fenix watched as a group of Marines carried out the last of the dead from inside, the bulldozers were pushing the last of the corpses into the pile, "Looks like that's the last of 'em."

"Thank god," Lombardi said, "You would think after a fight like that we would get a break."

"We will get a break soon; the higher ups need to discuss the next plan of action."

A few marines armed with flame throwers came forward; on the command of "_Torch 'em" _yelled by their commander they ignited the pile. The smell of burning flesh was so powerful the ODST's could smell it in their vacuum sealed suits. The pile of corpses became a bonfire as the fire crept and crawled all along the surface. Grunt methane tanks exploded creating even more fire.

"We need a break," Ricky said sullenly, "I mean how much can expect us to do."

"We are soldiers after all, I'm pretty sure they think we can do a lot," Lombardi replied.

"No we _were _soldiers," Fenix said looking up at the rising column of smoke. He thought of how this war had turned out ever since the first contact on Harvest twenty seven years ago, ever since that faithful day humanity has been fighting a losing war and there was no victory in sight. They were just delaying the inevitable. They were nothing more now then cows waiting in line at a slaughterhouse; just waiting their turn to be the next ones killed.

"We _were_ soldiers," he repeated, "Now we are nothing but survivors."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Downtown Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

Ellie crouched back behind the car she and Azo were hiding behind, "Looks like there is no one alive at the crash site." The Elite rubbed his chin in deep thought, it was a few seconds before he replied, "It is best that we avoid it, if I know the Covenant, and I do they'll have probably placed a sniper somewhere among the buildings nearby, watching the crash site."

The crash site in question was a downed Pelican, its engines and fuselage lay in partial ruin behind the green flying machine. The front part of the dropship was in an awkward angle. It had gone down right in the middle of an intersection. It wasn't smoking so it could be assumed that the Pelican was shot down on the opening day of the invasion.

Ellie made a motion with her SMG, "I need ammo for my M7, that last firefight exhausted a lot of my ammo."

Azo nodded, "Very well Ellie, I'll flank around the back of the bird from the right, you slip in from the left and we will meet in the back." Ellie nodded and then set out towards the crash.

_He's getting better at saying my name_, she thought as she slowly moved forward, watching the adjacent buildings for that supposed sniper. She got to the cockpit and crouched down. She peered inside. Both pilots were dead in their seats. There was no sign of struggle so she assumed they died from the crash itself. She made her way around the right wing of the dropship and stopped. She heard noises; it sounded like people talking.

"Hurry up we got to get out of here before any Covenant show up," a female voice said.

A deeper man voice replied back sharply, "If you would shut up and help us carry this crap then we could be outta here faster." Ellie heard the women scoff.

Ellie slowly made her way around to the back of the Pelican. She stopped just short of the edge of the troop bay and peered around the corner. Three humans were there. One; the women heard earlier, stood there holding an ammo container full of stuff. Two men were going back and forth from inside the troop bay. They picked up anything they could find. Guns, ammo and supplies.

She watched in horror as one of the men carried a dead marine over his shoulder outside of the troop bay. He threw down the marine with little care and began pulling off grenades and ammo from him. The other man grabbed the deceased marines' helmet and began to take his shoes off, "I like these shoes a lot, he won't need these anymore."

That was enough. She came around the corner with her weapon raised. "Drop it all of you drop it and stand back," she ordered aiming her SMG from one to the other, "That is property of the UNSC." The women dropped the container she was holding; which had more ammo and grenades, and put her hands up. The man who had taken the boots stepped back, tripping over his untied laces. However the last man didn't budge. He made as if to put his hands up, but quickly withdrew an M6D from his coat pocket.

"Drop it man," Ellie screamed, "I don't want to hurt you."

The man laughed, "Hurt me, lady if you haven't noticed there is three of us and one of you." Ellie looked around, the women had slowly flanked behind her and the other man had a M6 of his own drawn and pointed right at her. She knew she was in trouble. That is until she remembered Azo.

"Ha, you don't want to be looting like that," She said with authority, "Stealing from the UNSC is punishable by death."

"Fuck the UNSC," the man yelled, "They haven't done anything for us." Ellie shook her head, "What do you mean? They've been protecting sorry ass people like you from the Covenant."

"Protect! Where was their _protecting_ when they burned down my home world of Madrigal. They haven't been able to stop the Covenant for over twenty eight years and now look, the Covenant have gotten to Earth." The man had the mid set of an Innie, and he probably had been one before they sort of just disappeared around 2537.

"We have been doing the best we can to stop them, and looting them isn't going to help nobody, now leave this stuff here and nobody gets killed," Ellie threatened.

"Pff we got you outnumbered," the leader repeated, cocking his pistol.

Ellie smiled, "I don't think so, Azo." The leader cocked and eyebrow, "what's an Az…" he was suddenly picked up and tossed into the other man by an invisible force. They both quickly regained their composure and looked over to where a weird transcend of light stood nearly eight feet tall. The invisible force slowly transformed into a alien. The alien was armed with a glowing sword made of energy.

"Thanks, Azo, I was unsure if I was going to win there," Ellie said to Azo as she stood next to him. Azo nodded, "Hmm little humans stealing from the honorable dead, that is quite dishonorable."

"Wait, what the hell is going on, you working with a Covenant," The man said pointing accusingly at her, "You are a traitor."

Ellie rolled her eyes, "No I'm not, the Elites separated from the Covenant, they are on our side…" she grunted as a bullet hit her side. She went down. The women had a pistol of her own and had shot Ellie. Azo flew into action. He quickly sliced off the woman's hand; still holding the pistol. There was no blood as the plasma from the sword cauterized the wound almost instantly.

The women let out a blood curdling scream of agony as she grabbed the stump of her hand with her other. Azo quickly ended her screaming by driving his sword through her throat. Her headless body fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Azo turned to the other two humans; who sat there in complete shock, "Now will you leave peacefully or by force?"

That was enough for them they got up and sprinted away from the crash site at unnatural speeds. Azo turned his attention to Ellie; who was sitting up looking at her side. "You okay?" he asked. She looked up at him and smiled, "Yea, it just grazed between my arm and side." She looked over at the headless body of the lady, "Boy you sure did a number on her."

Azo looked away in slight embarrassment, "Sorry I got a little carried away, just seeing you hurt put me into a blind rage." Ellie took of her helmet and pulled back the hair in her face, "Aw that's so cute, going into blind rages over me."

The pair laughed for a little bit before an awkward silence prevailed over the scene. In the distance the sounds of battle could be heard. Ellie got up and re adorned her helmet, "Well looks like we should be going soon."

Azo looked over the dead body of the marine, "Did you get your ammo?"

"Oh I almost forgot," she went into the troop bay and quickly found some ammo for her M7S. Azo waited outside just in case any more looters or Covenant came. He turned when he heard Ellie come back out. In her hands were two silver tags on chains. "What are those?" he inquired.

"Dog tags," she said sullenly, "Human soldiers where them around their neck for identification." She walked over to the dead marine and pulled off another dog tag. She stored the tags in her rucksack, "We also collect them when we are unable to bring the dead with us."

Azo nodded, "A very honorable thing to do, you honor the dead by carrying their _dog tags_."

Azo stripped off two grenades from the marine, "Do the Covenant have ways of honoring their dead?"

"We Sangheili recite a war passage for our dead, but when it comes to the rest of the Covenant I don't know what they do. I know for a fact that the Unggoy don't do anything for their dead since they have such great casualties."

"War passages eh?" Ellie acknowledged, "You mind saying some for these guys here."

"It would be my pleasure," Azo said sincerely walking over to the trio of bodies lain on the ground. He kneeled down and put a hand on the marines head, "Let the gods know that these great human warriors fought for what was right. They fought and died for their survival of their species and the mistakes of my sins. They are brave and deserve every right to partake in the Great Journey."

With that he touched each humans head and then stood up, "It is done."

"Thank you," Ellie responded, she took one last look at the bodies and then glanced off into the sky. The sun was almost at its highest point, "Come on Azo we must get to the Brooklyn Bridge before midday."

She went off in a fast walk. Azo easily matched her pace by regularly walking, "Why must we get to this Brookwyn Bridge?"

"I'll explain it to you as we go, we just got to hurry." With that the two unlikely companions strode off through the city, unaware they were being watched.

**Authors Note****: I know this Chapter is short, but I figure why write anymore when I can leave you guys in suspense. Anyways thank you for the great comments and I will try my best to keep this fic going as long as I can.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

Liberty Hospital had turned into something akin to a small military base. Scorpion Tanks and Warthogs patrolled up and down Cooper Street looking out for any more Covenants. The Armadillos and Warthogs not in use were parked in an orderly fashion in the parking garage next to the hospital. The Hornets had made use of the open field across Cooper Street; using it as a landing pad. A steady stream of Pelicans coming and going was evident. The drop ships were loading off more marines and supplies. Marines went here and there as they went about there business. Some on patrol or guard duty, those that weren't lounged around smoking or played a quick pick up game of basketball.

Gunnery Sergeant Carter Fenix, Alex Lombardi, Ricky Li and a few other ODST were on the eastern side of the hospital. Here a grave site had been built for the numerous soldiers killed during the recent battle. Around forty of the graves lay before them. Most were marked by a little makeshift cross with the unfortunate souls name on it. A few of the graves had the soldiers gun placed muzzle first into the ground at the head of the plot, the deceases helmet was then placed on top.

Fenix looked at the plot of Gibson. The ODST's helmet was placed atop his Assault Rifle. He couldn't believe the young ODST was gone. He had only known him for a short amount of time, but in that time Gibbs had proven himself one of the most capable ODST he had ever seen. He had been able to lead Fenix and Li to Liberty Hospital and he had given Fenix the extra ammo he needed during the Battle for the Hospital. Even during the battle Gibson had kept his cool completely even when it was uncertain if victory was at a hand.

He had heard from another ODST, Gibson had been fighting on the first floor and had been wounded in the leg and arm by plasma fire. A corpsman got to him and began dragging him to safety. But a grunt threw a plasma grenade near the group; Gibson used the last of his strength to pull himself on top of the grenade. The explosion had killed him but had saved the corpsman and a few others.

Fenix has heard stories of many soldiers doing that since the 20th century and even in the 26th century it was still an honorable thing to do. Gibson would more then likely get the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Carter and the other ODST stared at the grave sites for a few more moments before they were interrupted by a young ODST. He was waving his hands to get their attention. As Fenix looked over the young soldier spoke, "Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, Captain Van Zandt wants you at the briefing ASAP, the rest of us are to head over to motor pool for our guard shift."

The twenty two ODST milled about as they adorned their helmets and made their way over to the other side of the hospital where the motor pool was located.

The group passed by the pile of dead Covenant corpses. Most of the bodies were a charred black now. The fur on some of the brutes singed right off. The stench wasn't to good either and at least a thousand flies flew among the pile feasting and laying their eggs in the deceases bullet wounds.

"You notice that not one Elite attacked us today," Ricky observed. "Yea," Lombardi agreed, "I wonder where they all went."

"I don't know, but I hope there is still more, I still have a score to settle," Ricky tapped the tally marks on his helmet. Fenix nodded, "I'm sure there's still more out there; well I'm going to head to the briefing."

"You guys save me a seat in your guard position, I feel like this briefing is going to be a short one," Fenix grunted.

"Will do Gunny; tell us what the boys up top are doing?" Lombardi said putting his red and black CQB helmet over his head. Fenix nodded and made his way towards the entrance.

He approached the doors, when he noticed a figure slumped against the side of one of the warthogs. He approached it and saw that it was Sergeant Hawks. The Sergeant was sitting there with his head between his legs and his hands tucked under.

"Hey Hawks, how's it going?" Fenix asked taking his helmet off so he could see the ODST face to face. Hawks looked up with glossy eyes. He stood up groggily; almost falling over and with great effort saluted the Gunny, "Gunny, didn't see you there …burp... just laying about waiting for something to do."

Carter could tell he had been drinking alcohol and this was proven when the sergeant took a whisk of the bottle he had in his other hand. He could here the slurping and gulping as Hawks downed another portion of the hard liquor.

"Sergeant, what is that you have in your hand?" although he already knew the answer. Hawks looked at the bottle then at the Gunny, and then all of a sudden he fell to his knees and began sobbing. Fenix was right by his side. "Hawks I know it was tough, but Gibson is in a better place now."

Hawks looked up and through tears cried, "He was so young, why couldn't it be me."

Fenix had asked himself that same question many times. It was survivors' guilt and it was something to most soldiers when they lost a close friend or in some cases lose their entire squad. The only cure for it was to get back into the basic routine of work and get it off your mind.

"Sergeant Hawks, get a hold of yourself," Fenix ordered. The ODST stopped crying almost abruptly, save for an occasional sniffle. "Gibson sacrificed himself to save his brothers in arms and that is the most heroic way you can go, I know it's hard but the best thing you can do is not let Gibson's sacrifice go in vain," Fenix said sincerely, "Now join the rest of the ODST at the motor pool."

Hawks nodded and put on his helmet, "Thank you Gunny." Fenix watched as the sergeant made his way over to the motor pool. He waited till he was out of sight before making his way inside the hospital.

The lobby was less busy then it was the first time he had seen it, but it was still packed. He shuffled around many marines before he got into the hallway leading to the stairs. The same hallway Aiko got wounded in and Gibson died in. surprisingly all the blood was washed as best as it could off the walls and the spent shell casings had been swept up off the floor. It almost appeared as if there hadn't been a huge firefight here.

He made his way through the cafeteria to the stairs, as he got onto the 2nd floor landing he knew to head to the conference room. He approached the room and instantly noticed the two marines armed with Assault Rifles guarding the double doors.

"Halt," one yelled raising a hand to stop the gunny.

"I have clearance from Captain Van Zandt to be in that briefing."

The marine seemed to ponder it over for a few seconds before stepping aside. Fenix nodded and entered through the doors.

There must've been at least two dozen people crowded into the room. The room was one of those meeting type rooms you see in office buildings. A huge conference table with about ten chairs around sits in the middle. The seats were filled up with what Carter assumed were the highest ranking members of the UNSC outfit currently stationed here. A lot of them had Lieutenant and Master Sergeant emblems on their upper arm. He spotted Major Harper towards the head of the table. Across from him was Lieutenant Dykes from the 81st and next to him was Captain Van Zandt. The Captains helmet was placed on the table in front of him. He took notice that the Captains armor was the most beat up looking one, with a few scorch marks and cracked spots. This was a testament to his leading his men personally within the last twenty four hours of combat.

Carter made his way over to his leader; taking note that he and the Captain were the only ODST in the briefing. He shuffled and slid pass the subordinate sergeants and some corporals that came with their leaders. Van Zandt nodded as he approached. Standing behind him, Fenix whispered, "Sir, reporting for duty as requested."

Without turning to look at the gunny, Van Zandt replied, "Not a moment to soon either Fenix, the briefing hasn't started yet."

"May I ask why choose me sir?" Fenix inquired. The Captain chuckled; a barely audible chuckle that could hardly be heard over the volume of people speaking in the room, "Well Gunny, with Lieutenant Aiko injured and out of the fight I need a immediate Executive officer, and you fit that fulfillment perfectly." Fenix was about to say how he didn't deserve such a role, but was interrupted by the arrival of a new person.

The man was about 6'2 and had pale white skin. He was visually old, with gray close cropped hair and a white chevron mustache. He had on a black beret and wore an urban styled camo combat uniform. The way he garnered the attention of everyone in the room and the eagle emblem on his shoulder showed that this must've been Colonel Winters.

Winters made his way to the head of the table. "At ease," he said in a voice that sounded between calming and menacing. Everyone who could took a seat took one, the rest stood around waiting intently.

Winters pressed a button on the underside of the table. A huge blue and white holographic map of Manhattan appeared on the table. _So it was a Holo Table, _Fenix thought to himself as the Colonel marked points on the map in red with his stylus.

After about a minute he stopped and pointed at the red markers, "These are enemy fortification and hard points located throughout Manhattan that our F-99 UCAV'S spotted." He pointed to what appeared to be a large open space towards the center of the city, "In central park the Covenant have set up what appears to be a large LZ. Supplies and troops are being unloaded by the hour, making our job a living hell."

"How have the Covenant gotten so many ships into the atmosphere, hasn't the home fleet been repelling them, I know for a fact that the 3rd and 8th Fleet were guarding the space above the U.S." Van Zandt said interruptedly, he got a few annoyed looks from some of the 81st marines; obviously not liking their leader being interrupted. Fenix was ready to defend his leader though.

Winters however simply answered the question, "The 3rd fleet is wounded pretty badly and the 8th fleet is all but destroyed. Last I heard from the B- Net they went down taking at least a dozen Covenant Ships with them." Van Zandt looked crestfallen, but kept quiet.

The Colonel continued, "That being said, this LZ will be our main focus of attack. Firstly we must see what our current status of men is; the 81st is completely combat ready and ready at a moments notice, but Major Harper your boys have been fighting in the city near two days, how are they holding up."

Harper answered straightforward, "My Bravo Company and Charlie Company are combat ineffective at the moment, with almost every marine injured in some way. I lost the entirety of my Hotel Company a day ago. Truthfully sir I would have to count the 501st outta this one."

Winters nodded, "I see major, your men have been doing enough fighting and they carved out a nice little piece of real estate here with this hospital. I want your men to stay here and guard the hospital, if our attack fails and we are forced to retreat we can use this place as a fall back point." Harper nodded.

The Colonel turned to Captain Van Zandt, "Captain what about your Helljumpers?"

Van Zandt scratched his gray hair, "Sir I say my company has dropped down to about a platoons worth of soldiers, we won't be much use to you in direct fighting but we can sure give the Covies hell in commando attacks, maybe hit a few of those hard points you marked out."

Winters nodded in agreement, "Very good Captain, now here's the plan." He pointed to a long bridge span that led outside of Manhattan, "This is the Brooklyn Bridge, it will be our armor and vehicles only entry point into the city. The problem is the Covenant has stationed a helluva lot infantry and emplacements along the span. Now the Brooklyn Bridge has been around since 1883 and it has gone many renovations since then and it should be able to hold up the combined weight of all our tanks and other vehicles."

He took a breath before continuing; "Now here's what's going to happen we will leave at 0600 hours from now in a convoy of Warthogs, Scorpions and Armadillos, they will proceed to the bridge in that order. Once at the bridge it will take a combined push to get past all of the Covenants defenses. Pelican dropships will ferry marines across the river itself and Hornets will engage enemy air forces. Once pass we will set up a beach head in the warehouse district on Manhattan harbor and from there we will set out hitting the main fortifications between us and central park, then we will hit the Covenant LZ and push them out of the city. Orahh?"

A chorus of cheers, agreements and orahhs followed the Colonels plan. Even Fenix was joining in with the banter. The Colonel put a hand up to get silence. When it was quiet he turned to Van Zandt, "Captain Van Zandt I need your ODST on point in the first wave of Warthogs, they'll be leading the assault across the bridge. You yourself will be back with me in the rear as my military advisor."

Van Zandt hated to have his men go into battle without him right beside them but this was an order coming from a higher ranking officer so he had to obey, "Yes sir." Winters talked to a few other of his men then dismissed everyone saying he will see them all at 0600 hours.

As everyone began to disperse and leave Van Zandt pulled Fenix aside, "Gunny, since I am not going to be able to lead you guys across the bridge I'm going to need you to take up the task, I know this is a lot to ask in such short notice but I wouldn't be asking you if I knew you couldn't do it."

"Yes sir," Fenix said saluting, though on the inside he did not like the idea very much. Van Zandt returned the salute and moved on to chat with Major Harper. Fenix made his way over to the motor pool.

He got there about five minutes later. He made his way pass the numerous sandbag bunkers; nodding to Hawks as he went by, until he got to his squads little area. Lombardi made room for his Gunny, "So what's the skinny?"

Fenix took his helmet off and set it beside him, "We set out across the Brooklyn Bridge in 0600, and we are to push into Manhattan." Fenix hesitated before continuing, "They want someone to lead the scorpion tanks in the first wave of 'hogs."

He could tell Lombardi rolled his eyes despite him having his helmet on, "I wonder who they want to do that," the demo man said sarcastically.

Fenix nodded, "Yup, they want us to do it, you and Ricky are going to be with me in the lead hog."

Lombardi sighed, "Fine but you better not get me killed."

"Can't make any promises, but I'll try," Fenix joked, he turned to the still form of Ricky, "Ricky you hear that?"

"He's asleep Gunny, nothings happened out there so it doesn't really matter if he sleep or not."

"He's got the right idea," Fenix said laying his head down against one of the sand bags, "You going to be awake?" Lombardi nodded, "Then wake me up in about two hours will ya." With that he closed his eyes and entered a altered state of consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Near Brooklyn Bridge, Earth, Sol System**

Jace moved quickly through the maze that was Brooklyn. Carmine was struggling to keep up with the older ODST. He panted heavily as he shuffled behind the black ODST. He was surprised at the amount of condensation forming on his visor; it was almost obscuring his view. The afternoon sun was beating down on his body armor. Despite there being a cooling system built into the suite he was still pretty damn hot.

Jace stopped suddenly and Carmine almost ran into him. "Why'd we stop?" the rookie ODST inquired. Jacen pointed off into the distance, "Look."

Carmine followed to where his hand was pointing and smiled. The figure of the Brooklyn Bridge lay ahead. Its multiple spans and wires made it an impressive sight to gaze upon. "Come on," said Jace, "If we cross now we can reach Manhattan in a couple hours."

The two Helljumpers went on their way again. This time though at a much slower pace. Jace had realized they had been moving non stop for the last few hours and knew the Rookie was tired. He eyed over to the young trooper and smiled. He had gotten to know the trooper well and respected him greatly now.

"Sir, may I ask something?" Carmine asked.

Jace looked over a depolarized his visor, "Go for it."

Carmine followed suite and depolarized his helmet, "Why are we going to Manhattan? Isn't that where the majority of the Covenant is?" Jace nodded, "Yea it is, but it is also where the rest of the ODST will be… if they're still alive." Carmine took note of the somber tone and decided the Corporal knew what he was doing.

Another five minutes passed in silence before he asked, "Do you and Private Torres have a thing." Jacen looked completely surprised at the question, "What that's none of your business, and why would you care anyways?"

Carmine put his arms up in mock surrender, "Just saying, I saw the way you were looking at her on the _Marlow_, and I caught her glancing over at you a couple times."

"Really!" Jace realized his blunder, "I mean… you don't say, well that's good I guess." Carmine smile turned into a grin, "And she's pretty hot and that's a lot seeing how she is a Helljumper."

"Well I mean Lieutenant Aiko is pretty fine herself."

"Yea she is," Carmine agreed, "but she's kind of a psycho bitch." Jace chuckled at the comment, then looked up at the sky, "I hope her and all the others are alright."

Carmine put a hand on the corporal's shoulders. The older ODST turned his head at the gesture, "I know they are all alright Jace, they are ODST and we never die."

Jace removed the rooks hand from his shoulder, "What do you think we are, some super powered Spartan freaks, no we are regular humans with military training, we can die."

Jace looked directly into the Rookies eyes as he spoke but he noticed Carmine wasn't looking at him, but behind him. He turned and saw what he was looking at. A squad of three brutes and five grunts approached. Above them floated another alien; one neither have seen before. It was a purple bluish color with spiky indigo armor; it sort of resembled a weird cross between a squid and a jellyfish. By the looks of it the entire group had been running for quite a while. Jace grabbed the young ODST and pulled him into an alleyway.

"What the hell was that squid thing?"" Asked Carmine as he loaded a fresh mag into his M7.

"I don't know, never seen it before." The pair waited as the group of Covenant moved pass. Neither of them dare breathe, though Jace slowly aimed his rifle at the entrance of the alleyway. The trio of brutes went by, and the grunts waddled after them. Carmine was about to move out but Jace held him back.

A jackal appeared in the alleyway, he stopped and sniffed the air and looked around. _Shit he's on to us,_ thought Jace. Their savoir came in the form of the lead brute, he growled at the other to follow quickly so they could get to the Bridge and regroup with our comrades.

They waited another few seconds before moving out of the alley again. "Well that was a close o…" Carmine walked smack dab into a Brute. The brute must've been rear guard of the patrol, lagging behind to cover its comrade's rear flank. The gorilla like creature snorted in annoyance as Carmine fell flat on his ass. The ODST looked up in shock, he raised his SMG and fired from the hip, but the Caseless rounds simply bounced off the alien's armor. Despite that Carmine fired until he heard the _click click _of an empty gun.

The Brute simply smiled and raised its spike rifle to impale Carmine with the spike bayonet. Just as it was lunging for the kill Jace leapt up onto its back and stabbed the brute twice in the neck with his combat knife. On the third stab however the brute grabbed him by the collar of his armor and heaved through the glass window of a nearby convenient store. The glass shattered all around him as he landed with a thud.

Jace quickly regained his composure. He quickly made sure he had no lacerations from the broken glass. Seeing he was okay he made to get up, but was knocked down forcefully by Carmine.

"Stay down!" the private yelled firing a few rounds from his M6.

"What is it," Jace grunted shoving the Private off of him. His answer came in the form of a spike grenade landing right next to the pair. Carmine hastily grabbed it and chucked it back through the broken window. They were rewarded with an explosion and a roar of agony.

Carmine reloaded his gun, "Looks like that squad from before is back and they looked pissed." Jace nodded and reached behind him for his BR, but it wasn't there on the magnetic plates on his back.

"Where's my BR?" he yelled as plasma fire whipped through the opening; missing Jace by inches. Both ODST retreated deeper into the store, using the counter as cover. Carmine unslung something from his back. It was the BR.

"When that Brute threw you off of him, your BR nearly hit me in the face." Jace grabbed the rifle and pulled back the stock, "Only got one mag left." Carmine indicated his pistol, "all I got left as well."

The crunching of glass could be heard, indicating that the Covenant were now in the store. Jace looked at the rookie, "On three fire till either they're dead or we are." Carmine nodded.

"Three!" they both yelled in unison. Both ODST popped up over the counter and fired. They must've caught the covenant by surprise because they didn't fire back immediately. The firefight was short. Only three grunts and the jackal were in the store and they were wiped out in record time. Carmine quickly reloaded his pistol. Jace indicated to a door towards the back of the store, "Hey this is one of those buildings with a store on the bottom and an apartment up top, Rookie get up there and drop some grenades onto them while I hold them here."

Carmine wasted no time; he knew it was a matter of life or death. He ran through the doors and up the stone stairs that led up to the second floor; Jace fired off a couple shots from his BR to get the Covenants attention. As he went up the flight of stairs he couldn't help but notice that there was the crimson red of dried human blood on it.

Carmine busted down the door into the living room of the apartment. It was a quaint little place with what appeared to be Arabic rugs and curtains. What caught his eye wasn't the apartment itself but what lay in the middle of the room. An ODST sit there. By the look of his position and the dried blood on the rug in front of him, he could tell the man died a rather painful lonely death.

He approached the body and saw his name _Leroy_ and the tabard of the 2nd Shock Troops Battalion. "Dang he was one of us," he said to himself, "poor SOB, probably went way off course on the drop and got tagged by the Covenant. He had been able to escape but he died from his wounds here.

Carmine eyed what lay next to the body and smiled. The man's weapon of choice had been the MA5C Assault rifle. And he also had a special grenade launcher attachment added to it.

"Thanks Leroy," he picked up the gun to check if it had ammo. It had half its ammo in it, but it had both grenades for the tube in it. "_Rookie, what the hell is taking you so long! _Jace yelled over the COM, "_I go Covenant bastards pushing hard as shit here." _

"On it," Carmine made his way over to the window; he pulled back the curtains and pointed the rifle outside the window. Two of the brutes were standing guard outside, the rest were inside attempting to rout Jace. Carmine pulled the trigger and watched as the 7.62x51mm Full Metal Jacket rounds hit the brute in the head.

The brutes' armor fell off as the rounds hit it in the cranium. The brute let out a roar of anger but that didn't save it from the next burst Carmine put into it. It dropped dead onto the asphalt. Carmine smiled but noticed the squid like alien hovering right in front of him. It sounded as if it was purring. He quickly brought his rifle up and put the rest of his magazine into the alien. The thing appeared to have its own energy shielding system, but it was no match for the close range at which it was being fired upon.

The alien suddenly started convulsing. Its spikes fanned out giving it the impression of a hedgehog. It rose a few feet into the air and froze. Then suddenly it blew up in a fiery blue explosion. Seven plasma grenade type spheres fell from it and landed and bounced all around the street; a few even going into the store.

The ODST jumped back as they detonated sending dirt, debris and burnt flesh up into the air. Carmine was completely stunned, that thing just literally was a alien version of a suicide bomber.

"_Jeez, Rookie, where did you get so many plasma grenades?"_

"They weren't mine, it was that floating squid thing, when it died it sort of blew up, sending out a handful of those grenade things."

"_Hmm well it did a damn good job, those nades took out the entire patrol, and they almost took me out to but I was able to hide behind the counter," _Jace said, "_Anyways regroup with me downstairs."_

"Roger," Carmine said. He made his way down stairs stopping to take the dog tag off of Leroy and stripping the deceased ODST of any extra ammo he carried for the Assault Rifle.

Jace pulled his combat knife out of a grunts neck and the squat alien fell to the floor. Light blue blood seeping out of the wound in its neck. Jace wiped away the excess blood on his arm guards and looked at Carmine, "Next time hurry and cover me." His eyes fell upon the MA5C with a grenade attachment, "Where did you get that?"

Carmine just showed him the tag and Jace understood instantly. He motioned to the door,

"We got to move, but if those Covenant goons are heading to the Brooklyn Bridge, then that means they probably have control of it, we got to find some other way to get into Manhattan."

"But how will we cross, I'm not too familiar with Earth or this city for that matter, the only place I could think of crossing was the Brooklyn bridge," Carmine stated.

Jace thought it over for a few seconds before he perked up and exclaimed, "I got it, but it might be risky."

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Abacus was a Jiralhanae Stalker. His main job was to be the eyes and the ears for the Covenant. He was pretty much supposed to be a spy for his kind. Abacus had been tasked by his chieftain Dractus to follow the surviving Sangheili from the command center battle and kill him if possible. Well he had followed the split jawed bastard and found him in the city across the river, but he ran into a snag when the Sangheili did something he had never seen before. He had teamed up with a human and the pair were making their way back to the island city to attempt to assassinate his Chieftain. He quickly got into his Banshee and headed back to the command center.

He strolled through the halls of the command center. As he walked he took note of the Sangheili heads placed on pikes in the hall leading to the main room; which Dractus had renamed the War Room.

He made his way into the War Room, and over to Chieftain Dractus. The Jiralhanae leader sat on his throne like a king. His crimson armor coinciding with his red eyes. He was a menacing site to behold and even his subordinates feared him.

Abacus bowed, "Chieftain I come with grave news, the Sangheili scum who escaped your grasp earlier is still alive and he is on his way with a _human_ now to come and kill you."

Dractus' mouth turned into a nasty grin as he took in the info, "Haha let the bastard come, and his little human pet too, I will feast on both their hides after I'm done with them." A chorus of roars of agreement went up from the other brutes in the room. He looked over to the scout, "You did good young one, now be gone, I will fill you in on your next assignment later." Abacus bowed and made a hasty retreat towards the door. Dractus waited till the stalker was gone before turning to his attention a blue armored Jiralhanae Captain Ultra that was his war advisor, "You say the humans are planning an attack on the bridge leading into the city." "Yes my lord," the captain replied, "But do not fear, our garrison there should be sufficient enough to repel any human attack." Without warning Dractus grabbed the Captain Ultra and pulled him close, "I do not fear nothing, you understand me, nothing." The Ultra nodded his head feebly, Dractus let go of him and said, "Good, now go see to the defenses of our bridge. The Captain Ultra left as fast as he could try to not piss off his leader anymore then he already had. _Hmm let the humans come I will crush them like I will crush that Sangheili assassin._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen **

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

"Those should suffice," Field Marshall Cur 'Kasamee remarked. He was observing three Loyalist Covenant Phantoms with his field binoculars. The Phantoms were being loaded with weapons and ammo. A small detachment of Jiralhanae and Kig-yar were watching over a pod of grunt laborers. The small aliens were loading containers full of plasma rifles and pistols into the Phantoms grav lift. The Phantom then would distribute them throughout the human city to troops that would need them.

"It does look like it could carry us all," Tano agreed, looking with his own set of field binoculars, "But how shall we take it, if we attack directly the Phantoms might fly off."

Cur had thought about this for some time but hadn't thought of any good solution. The two Sangheili were atop an apartment overlooking the Phantoms position. The rest of the Separatist under his command were within the apartment resting.

They had been trudging through the human city for almost a day now and they were getting exhausted, though the Sangheili didn't show it, the Unggoy did. The grunts lagged towards the back of the group and only with "encouragement" from the Sangheili did they keep up. The Mgalekgolo pair, Jida Xana Motom and Motok Xana Paruto, seemed to not be the slightest affected. The bond brothers simple stood by guarding the entrance to the apartment.

The Mgalekgolo pair fascinated Cur. One moment they would be tear enemies in half with their "hands" while in the midst of a mindless blood rage, and afterward pause to recite war poetry. Yup the Mgalekgolo were a mystery and who could truly understand them?

It was a few more minutes before Cur came up with an idea. "Tano, your special operations Unggoy, are they as good as you make them out to be?"

Tano's mandibles twisted into a smile, "They are good, much better then the regular rank and file Unggoy and more competent."

"Can you send for them?"

Tano nodded then spoke into his mic located within his helmet, "Uso' can you send Yiyip and his comrades to come up to the rooftop." A deep voice answered almost instantly, "They will be right up sir."

It was a couple minutes before the Unggoy came up through the doors. There were seven of them in all. They had black combat harnesses and most sported plasma pistols but one particular one; who stood a whole head taller then the rest sported a needler. He was Yiyip. Yiyip wasn't necessarily the leader of the special operations Unggoy, which fell under Tano's jurisdiction, but he was sort of the alpha male of the group. He usually spoke for the group when in discussion with the higher ranking members of the Covenant. He also kept the Unggoy focused on the mission at hand. Tano came to the conclusion the Yiyip was smarter then the others and that's why he was one of his most trusted soldiers.

"Yiyip and the others reporting as ordered," The Unggoy said in slightly deeper then normal voice for an Unggoy. "Yiyip good to see you and your brothers are okay, how are the other regular Unggoy holding up?"

Yiyip looked sullen when he answered, "Nipple brothers are holding up sirs, but we are all running low on breathable air, we might run out within the next six to seven hours."

This was not good news at all. Unggoy didn't breath oxygen, instead they breathed methane. And to accommodate this in areas without high levels of methane in the air they had to adorn methane tanks and breathing apparatus. This usually wasn't a problem at all as the tanks had enough gas in it to suffice for a good twenty four hours or so, before they would have to be refilled at a Methane chamber. But the Sep Unggoy had been out in the field for almost a day and they didn't have access to methane chambers like their loyalist counterparts. This was an issue that would need addressing, but right now they needed those Phantoms.

"We will get you more methane, do not worry," Tano promised, "but right now Field Marshall Kasamee has a mission for you."

As if noticing Cur for the first time the seven Unggoy instantly saluted. Cur waved the salute off and got right to it, "Yiyip are you and your Unggoy ready for a high priority mission?"

"Yes Field Marshall, we will take on any mission," Yiyip responded. Cur was surprised, he had never seen an Unggoy with so much drive before, he liked this Yiyip even more now.

"Then listen carefully, you see those Phantoms out there?" he pointed to the bulbous dropships hovering not more then two hundred yards away, "I need you and your SpecOps brethren to go out there infiltrate the Jiralhanae post and board one of those Phantoms, while you're at it see if you can ignite some of those fuel canisters, the more confusion the better."

Yipyips chest swelled with pride, "Me and my brethren will accomplish this mission sirs." With that the Unggoy turned on their heels and marched single file back through the fore way.

"You think they will complete the task Tano?" Cur asked, eying his friend. Tano nodded, "Yes they shall, but my SpecOps brothers and I are going to follow them with our active camo, we will use the confusion the Grunts offer to slay a few of the Jiralhanae."

"Very well then, I will keep watch from here, good luck my brother," Tano nodded and headed off. Cur had a feeling the Special Operations Sangheili wouldn't miss a chance to engage in a fight, especially when their subordinates were going to be a key part of it.

Yiyip cursed himself for volunteering for such a dangerous mission. It was practically suicide. Whatever, hopefully the Jiralhanae don't recognize them as any different then the other Unggoy.

The seven grunts walked out to the Phantom loading area. As they approached a brute in violet power armor blocked their path. "What is the meaning of this," the Jiralhanae said in a gruff voice, "Why are Special Operations Unggoy here?"

Yiyip spoke for the group, "High chieftain has sent us on a secret mission and he wants us to commandeer a ship to get there faster." The brute wasn't as dumb as it looked, "Hah, the high Chieftain would never send whelps like you on a secret mission, you are imposters." The Jiralhanae Ultra raised its fist to punch Yiyip, when its head suddenly exploded in a flash of purple. Gore and brain matter spilt on Yiyip.

"Ugh, I don't have time for this," he pulled out his needler and fired seven of the weapons crystalline shards into a nearby brute minor who was distracted by the sudden death of his leader. The seven shards planted themselves in the brutes' abdomen and reacted to one another. They blew up sending entrails and a pink mist everywhere. The six other SpecOps Unggoy fired their plasma pistols overcharged at the other loyalist and slowly made their way to the nearest Phantom.

The half dozen SpecOps Sangheili flew into action. Uso' Nodamee; who had killed the brute Ultra with his Beam Rifle, lay prone atop a nearby water tower firing into the Loyalist troops with dangerous accuracy. Tano and the others were in the midst of the Jiralhanae in an instant. They would decloak to slash away at the brutes then quickly cloak again. They were like ethereal spirits, slashing and vanishing, it was amazing discipline o their part.

Yiyip and the others split up with two Unggoy going up the lift of each Phantom, except in the case of the last one which had three going up. Yiyip and his partner Flim ascended up the grav lift. When they got inside it was a dullish purple color with a lot of space for a large amount of troops. Yiyip and Flim made their way to the cockpit where he put the muzzle of his needler on the back of the Unggoy pilot's head, "If you know what is good for you don't try anything."

The Loyalist Unggoy nodded feebly.

Back out side the SpecOps Sangheili were cleaning up when Cur arrived with the rest of the Separatist forces. "Great work here Tano."

Tano bowed, "Thank you brother, but don't thank me, thank the Unggoy, if it weren't for them we wouldn't have been able to take the Jiralhanae by surprise."

Cur nodded, he turned and looked back at the mass of about forty Unggoy milling around sluggishly, "Make sure the Unggoy resupply their tanks using their fallen Loyalist counterparts' tanks," he turned to Tano, "And make sure your SpecOps Unggoy get first pickings as a reward for their work."

"Very well Field Marshall, and what do we do now that we have the dropships to transport us?" Tano inquired. Cur smiled, "We must first find some allies and I have been thinking about it and I'm not sure you are going to like the idea of who our allies shall be."

Tano groaned, "I 'm scared already." Within a few minutes the Separatist transitioned into the Phantoms; splitting up into about twenty five in each, and were on their way.

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Downtown Brooklyn, Earth, Sol System**

Azo activated his energy sword through the Brutes back. The two prongs protruded outside of the brutes' chest and it struggled for a few seconds. Azo put his hand over the mouth of his victim to stifle any noise of pain. The brutes' eyes rolled back and Azo slowly lowered the alien to the floor.

They had caught the brute urinating against a wall; it was a horrible way to go, for any living thing, even brutes. But it had to be done.

"What about the grunts?" Ellie asked, indicating to the group of sleeping grunts that were completely oblivious to their leaders' death. Azo shook his head, "No need to risk raising the alarm, let's just move on." Before leaving the Elite grabbed the fallen brutes Plasma Carbine, he ejected the ammo capsules and put them in his utility belt.

Ellie nodded and followed the Elite, but not before sending a hard kick at the brutes limp body. She walked up next to Azo, "that was the third patrol we've ran into in the last hour, why the entire step up in defense?"

"I'm as confused as you are Ellie; maybe they know of our coming and are trying to slow us."

Ellie seemed to put some thought in the statement, "That wouldn't make sense, they would just send hunter killer teams after us," she looked up at the elite, "well it doesn't matter really we just got to hurry up and get our asses to the great Brooklyn Bridge."

"What is so grand about this bridge?" Azo inquired.

"It is only one of the greatest and earliest achievements in human history," Ellie boasted with pride, "It is a huge bridge that spans from this city to the Manhattan, there's no way you could've missed it coming over here in that banshee."

Azo recalled the large bridge he had saw before he had been engaged by the brutes, "Ah that was a grand site, and we shouldn't be to far from it now." Ellie nodded, "yup it should be in view once we get pass this warehouse area."

The two made their way stealthily through the city of warehouses, dodging two more patrols of Covenant loyalist forces, before coming out into a beach. The area was not the most beautiful beach, but it was nice none the less. The white sand ended into the blue water of the East River. The pair made their way off of the boardwalk onto the sandy beach.

Ahead of them the skyscrapers and large buildings of Manhattan could be seen. Large columns of smoke and what appeared to be fire dotted multiple areas of the city, patrols of Phantoms and banshees could be seen flying through the sky above the city and over the river. About a mile and a half to their right the Brooklyn Bridge spanned across the river into Manhattan. It was large and one of the most prominent things in the area.

Ellie began to walk in the direction of the bridge, but Azo put a hand up to stop her. "What is it?" she asked with an annoyed expression. Azo didn't say anything however he just leveled his carbine at the bridge and peered through the scope. Through the 2x zoom he could see large amounts of infantry on the bridge along with watch towers and multiple Wraiths. "We aren't getting to that city through that bridge."

"What, seriously they have that garrisoned too," Ellie agonized, "We came all this way for nothing." Azo looked at her, "So know any other way across."

"I guess we will have to take one of the other bridges, but that'll take us at least another three hours to get to one," she looked around and spotted a single sail sloop, "Or we can improvise." Azo looked over to the spot she was looking at and sighed, "Surely you jest?"

"I jests nothing, come on." Ellie led the way Elite over to the boat. It was beached on the sand and was slightly leaning over. "Come on help me get this thing in the water." She holstered her M7 onto her leg and began to attempt to push the 500 pound boat into the water, but it was something a 130 pound woman couldn't pull off on her own.

Azo sighed and went over to help the ODST; with his help it was a lot easier to get the boat into the water. Ellie hopped into the bed of the sloop and rose up the sail. She turned to Azo; who was hesitantly standing on the beach, "Come on Azo get on board."

Azo looked at the boat and then looked at Ellie, "Um, do you think I can fit… its pretty small." Ellie chuckled, "yes you can fit, hurry up now before we get spotted." Azo rolled his eyes and waded into the shallows, and with one powerful leap, hopped on board. The sloop almost tipped over at the sudden addition of weight but held its own.

After both of them got comfortable they went underway "The river wind should carry us all the way to the other side in about ten minutes," Ellie said guiding the boat with rudder.

"You know that we are quite visible for some distance off and we are the only boat in the water, the Brutes will be suspicious," Azo appealed. Ellie nodded, "I already got that part covered, would your active camo be able to conceal me if you were to cover me?"

Azo nodded, as Ellie continued, "Then all we have to do is for me to lie in the bottom of the boat and you lie on top of me and cover me with your active camo." Azo thought it over and realized that this was probably the best idea, though very awkward.

Ellie lay in the bottom of the boat, Azo activated his camo and literally appeared to disappear though he was only bending and manipulating the light around him to appear as if he was invisible. He gently lay on top of Ellie trying not to put too much of his weight on her.

It was an awkward moment for both of them. _What the hell am I doing? _Ellie asked herself, _a few days ago I was killing Elites now I am spooning with one, ugh what would Jace think? _She and Jace weren't going out but there was definitely something between them. The way they both looked at each other had to mean there was something between them. She hoped he was okay; if she ever saw him again she was going to tell him how she felt, and hope that he will feel the same.

Azo never would've though he would be this close to a human; he hasn't even been with at least four sires back on Sanghelios. May the gods forgive him for this dishonorable sin.

On the Brooklyn Bridge, the Kig-yar marksmen Yeg perched atop the towers that two of the giant cable spans connected. He was sitting there lazily, nothing had happened since they eradicated the humans in the island city. He had been recently sent to this post by the Jiralhanae leaders. He didn't know why the Jiralhanae were giving the orders all of a sudden except for the Sangheili but he didn't care as long as he got some action. But nothing had happened yet and he was quite bored.

His luck would change when he noticed something out on the river. He peered through his Beam Rifle and saw that it was a human vessel with a single sail, but as far as he could tell it was empty. _That's weird,_ he thought to himself, _but to be on the safe side better report it to the boss._ He told his leader the, Captain Ultra sent by Dractus. He in turn said that he would send a banshee patrol to check it out and for him to keep an eye on it.

Back out in the boat the pair was having some trouble. The afternoon sun was beating on their bodies and cooking them like a pork roast on the grill. And the wind had died down and slowed them to a crawl. "Crap," Ellie mumbled, "we might have a problem."

"Told you it was a bad idea," Azo boasted. "Shut up if you didn't freaking way like almost 500 pounds we would've…" she stopped when she heard the sound of what she thought was a woman screaming, but she knew that meant one thing. Banshees.

A trio of banshees was making a beeline for the boat. The first one flew by rocking the boat back and forth. Ellie cried out as the boat shook, Azo held her close. The next two banshees however caused enough wind force and waves that the boat tipped over.

Ellie hit the water with a splash. She began to sink at an incredible rate. She tried her best to swim but the armor was too bulky. She had been trained in under water maneuvers back in basic, but that wasn't with over a hundred pounds of gear on and not in ODST armor. Her armor had 90 minutes of air, but if she kept sinking at this rate the pressure would kill her well before that and to top that off she was slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

She began to panic and thrashed out with her arms, but it was useless she was too heavy. She felt tired and wanted to sleep. _Jace I hope you are all right and I love you. _She stopped thrashing and sunk peacefully.

Elsewhere, Jace stopped dead in his tracks. Carmine almost ran into him, "What is it?" Jace's heart felt like someone stabbed it, he clutched his chest and looked out into the East River which was visible through the warehouses they were walking near; he remembered how Ellie had always loved to swim. _I hope you are alright Ellie, I really do._

"Nothing," Jace said, walking forward again, "At least I hope its nothing." Though the rook didn't catch the last part as he was to busy admiring his new weapon.

They passed a neon sign director which pointed out that the 43rd Street tunnel two kilometers away.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifthteen**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Brooklyn Heights, Earth, Sol System**

Gunnery Sergeant Carter Fenix strolled over to the motor pool, helmet cradled under his arms. As he approached he took note that all the ODST of Alpha Company was present among the seven Warthogs. Some were just resting preparing for the upcoming attack and others loaded up the belts of the 'hogs M14 LAAG turret.

Carter approached the 'hog farthest to the right; where Lombardi sat in the passengers' seat loading shells into his shotgun. Li was on the turret humming to himself and drumming his hand to the beat. Both nodded as their leader approached.

He hopped into the driver's seat and put on his helmet. "You guys ready?" he asked. "Ready as we will ever be," Ricky said with little enthusiasm. Lombardi just nodded. Fenix keyed his COM so he could speak to the whole company.

"Helljumpers, this is Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, your acting CO, lets get this assault underway." It wasn't the most enthusiastic speech but what could you say to them. Everyone of thems' morale was low and they were tired. But they were Helljumpers and they were the best, but they were only human.

Their company had gone from sixty troops to only around twenty in less then a day. All the platoon leaders; L.T. Hall, L.T. Mc Riggs and L.T. Aiko were all dead, missing or injured. Right now Carter was the second highest ranking member left after Captain Van Zandt. The rest of the men were non com sergeants or corporals and privates.

The sound of the 'hogs 12.0 L liquid-cooled hydrogen-injected ICE engine was all that could be heard in the motor pool as the troopers revved them up.

"Here goes nothing," Carter said as he punched the jeeps ignition and tapped the gas pedal. The 'hog left the garage of the motor pool followed by the other six. They pulled into parking lot and were met with an interesting site.

The remaining 501st marines had lined up in two straight lines with about thirty in each. Carter instantly realized that it was a going away ceremony. He smiled and drove the LRV between the two lines. As they went they were cheered on by the 501st.

"Go get them!"

"Yea, give 'em hell!"

The last marine in the right line was Major Harper. As Carter passed he saluted. Carter gave an awkward salute with his left hand and drove off into Cooper Street.

Out on Cooper Street the Scorpion Tanks had lined up, the Armadillo APCs behind them. The second wave of Warthogs filled with 81st marines brought up the rear. In the field across the street the Hornets and Pelicans were starting their engines.

The seven ODST Warthogs filled up in the front in a straight line. "_Gunnery Sergeant, this is Van Zandt, good luck hunting I'll see you on the other side." _Fenix simply said, "Roger sir."

They were off at 1800 hours on the dot. The mile and a half long convoy proceeded down Cooper Street. After about five minutes they turned onto another avenue that would lead right to the turn about for the Brooklyn Bridge.

As they drove Carter took in the devastation that had occurred in the city. Multiple buildings lay in ruin and fires dotted much of the street. To an extent this was much worse then that of a third world country.

"Stay frosty," He said over the COM, "this is the wild west out here." A chorus of affirmatives and oorahs greeted the statement. Ricky swiveled from left to right on the turret watching out for any potential threats.

Once or twice the group would come across a single or pair of grunts that were just milling around aimlessly lost. The grunts were either killed quickly or just barely managed to escape. There was going to be no prisoners taken.

After about another fifthteen minutes the Brooklyn Bridge came into view. The turn about that led to it was straight ahead. "Helljumpers this is it lets go get them," Fenix barked over the COM. He hit the gas hard on his 'hog. They jumped from thirty to a hundred miles per hour. The seven jeeps sped away from the main convoy onto the turn about.

They hit the turn about quickly; almost hitting the wall. The turn about was pretty much the divider for the lanes of the bridge and to quell traffic. These didn't matter for the 'hogs as they leapt onto bridge.

The first thing Carter noticed was the sun. It looked beautiful in the sky. The reflection on the East River was remarkable. It was hard to believe that during all this fighting that there could still be beauty. He was knocked out of his trance by the warthog next to him as they sped up to gain the lead. "Hmm, not on my watch."

He hit the gas accelerating to hundred and ten miles per hour. The others followed suit. It almost became like sort of a race; each striving to get ahead of the other. They went into a triangular formation; with five out front and two in the middle.

Fenix was so engrossed in the thrill of the speed at which they were going he barely noticed the flaring green fuel-rod projectile that sizzled right over his head. It impacted and exploded somewhere behind the group, he just gave a grunt of dissatisfaction.

There was about two score Brute, jackal and grunt directly in front of them. With a few Ghost and Choppers spread out among them. Before them was some sort of blockade. It looked as if it was made of the purple material their ships were built with.

"_Hostiles dead ahead," _someone shouted over the COM, "_this is it, spin 'em up."_

As one the group of Warthogs began spooling up the M14 LAAV turret. Ricky began to fire the machine gun. The three barreled turret spit out 12.7x99mm armor penetrating rounds at the Covenant formation. The other 'hogs put in their turret fire and the group became a moving hailstorm of lead.

Covenant was torn to bits as the APR rounds ripped into them. The Ghost and Choppers couldn't maneuver fast enough to move throughout the group. They were nothing but mechanical shields. Carter ran over a pair of grunts, "Get splattered," he said sinisterly. Lombardi put a blast from his shotgun into a passing Brute and then turned to his superior, "You seem to be enjoying yourself?"

Fenix smiled, "What's there not to enjoy about- Li watch tower 3'o clock." The Chinese ODST swiveled the turret around and put suppressive fire onto one of the Covenants floating watch towers. The grunts and jackals on it squealed out in pain as the whole thing exploded from the volume of fire.

"As I was saying what's there not to enjoy about killing these guys, they would do the same to us." Lombardi shrugged; not having an answer and turned back to firing his shotgun at passing Covenant.

They shifted to a lower gear as they came to the apex of the bridge. In the sky Carter spotted at least a dozen banshees coming straight at them. "Li, up top we got Banshees."

"I see 'em, there's also a couple snipers up on the towers," Ricky responded as he brought the turret round. "Don't worry about them, let the rest handle them," Carter grunted as a plasma shot nearly took of his head. He avoided clipping the fender of the 'hog in front of them as Li opened up.

The banshees sped by, but they couldn't really get a bead on any of the fast moving jeeps. Their first pass came up with more then half of them blown to pieces. They came around for another but were engaged by the Hornets; who now entered the fray.

Yeg swore to himself. The humans had finally attacked. And they had attacked with about seven of those green vehicles with the turrets on the back. He had attempted to snipe the lead one, but had missed by mere inches. He had wanted to get some action and it came to him but he messed up. However there were more humans coming. They were coming in those big tanks of theirs. He smiled when he saw a few of the humans riding on the treads of the tanks. _Easy kill,_ he thought to himself. He brought up his beam rifle and aimed at the closest tank. His reticule rested on the head of one of the humans and he was about to pull the trigger when he noticed the barrel of a human tank turret turn and aim in his direction. He squawked in what would roughly translate in English as _oh shit._

Ricky turned his head towards the explosion, "Woo we looks like we don't need to worry about that sniper problem."

"Ha, this is turning out to be a cake walk," Fenix chuckled. "Looks like the Covvies are going to make you eat those words, INCOMING!" Lombardi yelled. A plasma mortar round came hurdling through the air and hit the warthog next to the squads.

"Holy shit Wraiths," Ricky cried, "Gunny what do we do?" Carter swerved hard right to avoid another mortar as he grunted his reply, "we just got to speed through." He keyed his COM and spoke on company frequency, "All 'hog units let our tanks handle those Wraiths, just push through."

Three Wraiths were lined up adjacent to one another; they fired mortar after mortar at the fast approaching ODST. The group swished and swerved to avoid the plasma fire. Carter saw an opening. In between each Wraith was about eight feet of space. He knew it would be a tight fit but they could make it. He gunned the gas to a hundred and twenty. He flew right in between the right and middle Wraith. The other ODST seemed to catch on and followed suit. The Wraiths reacted too slowly to the 'hogs. Every remaining one got through.

Carter heard the consecutive explosions as each Wraith was blown to pieces by the approaching tanks. He smirked. The rest of the battle was easy picking for the UNSC. The hornets and pelicans made short work of the banshee swarm around the bridge and the first wave of 'hogs easily cleared through most of the remaining Covenant infantry and armor. Some of the infantry rather jump off the bridge and risk swimming then go up against the marine convoy.

Carter led the warthogs into the small docking area on the Manhattan shore. It was located just off one of the exits leading from the bridge. Colonel Winters had established that as their new forward operating base for now. It came complete with a multitude of warehouses for storage, craning equipment to help move supplies along faster and a nice open space so they could fit all their armor and vehicles.

The ODST's were tasked with clearing out the warehouses once they got there. Fenix felt they were being wrongfully assigned everything, but orders were orders and he had to follow orders.

He and the others pulled into the main clearing of the docking area. The Manhattan buildings were much larger then any of them thought. But the glory and beauty of the city would have to wait they had a lot of clearing to do. The eighteen ODST left quickly went through each warehouse in teas of three. Carter and his squad opened one of the warehouse doors to find an entire group of sleeping grunts. "He, easy kills," Lombardi chuckled. The trio quickly made quick work of the sleeping aliens and then checked the rest of the warehouse.

"Nothing but supplies and other shit," Ricky reported. Fenix shook his head. Keying his COM he asked the other ODST, "All units report in?"

"_Hawks here, we got the all clear."_

"_Reno reporting in, I got the all clear here," _The gruff voice of the newly promoted Staff Sergeant John Reno said.

The other ODST reported their finds and it was all clear. He smiled at the good news. He reached out to Captain Van Zandt through the COM, "Captain, this is Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, the Docking areas are clear and you are clear for landing."

"_Oorah Gunny, I'll inform Colonel Winters immediately," _Van Zandt replied over the COM. Fenix smiled and turned back to the squad, but his attention was diverted to a stair case leading up to the roof of the warehouse. He walked over to the stairs and went up them.

The sun was lowering nicely and it looked like a picture perfect scene. The rest of his squad joined him. Carter slipped his helmet off and rubbed his scar. It seemed like yesterday when the Elite had sliced through both his helmet and caught him under the eye with its sword. But Carter gave him twice as much back and put a knife through its neck.

"So," Lombardi muttered; taking his helmet off as well, "We counter attacked into Manhattan and now we are going to wreck some havoc among the Covenant."

Fenix raised an eyebrow, "And why are you telling me this?"

Lombardi smiled as he answered, "So are we still just survivors or have we become soldiers again?"

Fenix looked up at the golden sun as it lowered in the sky, night was fast approaching, "Honestly… I don't know anymore. Being a soldier inclines to risking your life everyday for freedom, but fighting the Covenant; we aren't fighting for freedom, we are fighting for survival. If it comes down to it we all are just surviving, citizens and soldier alike. It is just that we are capable of putting up a fight."

Lombardi nodded in agreement. The trio looked at the sunset as the tanks approached and the aerial vehicles landed in their designated LZ.

**Authors Note****: Sorry if this Chapter feels bad for any of you guys. Lately I have had extreme writing block and haven't been able to put forward my best. Thank you all for still reading my fanfic and I will try to make them a little better.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen **

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Under the East River, Earth, Sol System**

Jace and Carmine were about halfway across the river; though they weren't over it they were under it. They were in the 43rd Street Tunnel. It was a MagLev tunnel that ferried citizens of Manhattan and Brooklyn back and forth, through the East River. Right now the pair of ODST was using it as means to get to Manhattan. It smelled of oil and sewage. It was also impossibly dark, but this didn't affect either of the ODST because of their VISR. It outlined every object in gold and made traversing much easier.

Carmine was wiping down his guns barrel with an oil rag while whistling an old tune he heard in boot camp. The oil rag would allow his new MA5C to not jam up as it was prone to doing. Jace walked ahead casually. Both ODST were on their guard at first but after slowly coming to the conclusion that there would no need for the Covenant to be down here they slowly lowered it.

"What's that you're humming Private?" Jace inquired looking back at the young man. Carmine chuckled as he put away his oil rag, "Oh it's just an old welsh song our Drill instructors taught us back in boot camp."

Jace smiled, though you couldn't tell it because of his visor, "They still teaching that stuff in boot camp, hell that song is hundreds of years old, we need a new one."

Carmine laughed and continued walking into the darkness after the corporal.

_CREAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Carmine whirled around at the noise, "You hear that?" Jace stopped and turned around gun raised, "know what it was." Carmine shrugged, "I don't know man but it sounded weird." They both scanned around looking for targets but couldn't find any. "Come on let's keep going, whatever it is, is gone." Carmine nodded and followed Jace.

The pair walked on for another five minutes in silence listening for the noise.

_CREAAATTTTTTTTTTTT_

This time they both heard it and they scanned their environment looking for anything. But all they were seeing was the golden hue of the tracks pillars and tracks themselves. "Seriously what is that?"

"Maybe it was just rats," Jace said optimistically. He turned back to walk forward; with reflexes from years of battle he brought up his BR and fired off a burst. Out of the darkness came a screeching noise and a corpse fell to the ground.

It was an odd bug. But it was no ordinary bug; it was vaguely the size of a human teenager. It was covered in a natural chitinous exoskeleton. It had brown skin and tannish wings. Green slime/blood poured out of the two bullet holes that were created by Jace's BR. Next to the dead insect a C-shaped plasma pistol lay, indicating service to the Covenant.

"Aw, shit these aren't any ordinary cockroaches," Carmine mumbled under his breath.

"I fucking hate bugs," Jace said. Suddenly the whole tunnel was alive with the sounds of covenant drones. At least a score of the bug aliens poured out of every nook and cranny going straight for the Helljumpers. The ODST's VISR showed red outlined aliens everywhere. The duo opened up on the swarm with their respected weapons. Though Carmines assault rifle faired better then Jace's BR; which could only fire in a three round burst and not spray as well.

"We got to move," Jace yelled, but it was barely audible over the sound of the drones. They sounded like those cicadas in the summer, but only a thousand times louder. The pair ran forward firing as they went. Soon both their armor was covered in drone blood and bits and pieces.

Jace ducked down as a couple drones fired with their plasma pistols. He returned fire and killed the pair with the weapons. Two more drones flew down and took the pistol from their fallen comrades. _That's odd,_ Jace thought. He noticed that a lot of the drones weren't armed _at all_. They flew around trying to get in as close as possible for a scratch or a bite. "Rookie this must be a nest."

"A nest!" the private grimaced, "that's just great, now theirs going to be hundreds of these things after us." Jace felt he was right until he saw a sight of relief up ahead.

A MagLev Train lay parked ahead. It only had two of its cars on, but that meant it was easier to defend. "Rookie there's a train up ahead; we can use it for better cover."

Carmine yelled his response as he opened up again with his MA5, "Right, I'll cover you." Jace nodded and sprinted towards the train firing at whatever bug was stupid enough to get in his way. He smashed through the door and hit the ground hard. He whirled around and yelled to the rookie, "Rook, lets go, I'll cover you."

Carmine needed no second urging he turned on his heels and ran as if the devil himself was chasing him. Jace put down countless bugs with what little ammo he had left. Carmine leapt inside the train car. Both ODST began firing to conserve ammo. Despite this Jace still ran out. He quickly switched to his M6C and fired, but that to ran out of ammo within seconds, he began to panic, "Shit I'm outta ammo."

"We got to get this train moving," Carmine screamed, "Get to the front and see if you can get this thing to move." Jace was stunned; he hadn't expected the rookie to be able to keep his cool while Jace; a veteran, was panicking. He nodded and sprinted for the front of the train, while Carmine continued firing into the ever growing swarm of drones.

Jace opened the door to the next car and gasped. Around a dozen humans lay dead; lying in a pool of their own blood. Of the dozen five wore the outfit of the New York Militia. The soldiers' weapons were lying next to their corpses covered in crimson blood. Jace shuddered but spotted a Battle Rifle and by the still functioning ammo counter on the side he could see it was still full. He went over and picked up the blood soaked BR. He looked at the rifles former owner and saw he had a few clips of ammo for the gun. He took ammo and showed his respects to the fallen soldier by tapping his helmet twice.

By the fact that all these people were in one car, Jace could tell this had been sort of a last stand. The militiamen and civvies probably were hiding down her and the buggers got them by surprise. It was sad that they didn't even have time to fight back; it was no way for any soldier to go.

He put the last of the magazines on his webbing and proceeded to the front of the train but stopped abruptly when his eye caught something. It was a M7057 Flamethrower leaning against the wall. With its shark teeth decal it was pretty intimidating of a weapon. Jace smiled and picked it up; an evil grin crossed his face.

Carmine never thought he would die fighting a swarm of bugs. _This was the lamest way to die,_ he thought as he dodged more incoming plasma pistol fire. The plasma boiled and sizzled against the wall. He returned fire in the form of the grenade attachment. The launched tube flew out and made contact with a drone. The bug blew up in fiery explosion taking half a dozen of its comrades with it. "Why the hell hasn't Jace started the damn train." For a second he thought that Jace had gotten ambushed by more drones within the train and soon he would too.

So it was a surprise when Jace came back- with a flamethrower. "Rookie, I'll hold them off, _you _get the train moving." Carmine simply nodded and headed to the front. Jace made sure he was gone before turning his attention back to the drones.

"Burn you little suckers!" He squeezed the trigger. The flames shot out in a straight line to about 30 feet. He swerved the flame thrower back and forth igniting much of the swarm; which had now grown to at least two dozen drones.

The alien insectoids screamed out in agony as they were consumed by the flames and dropped down like flies. Jace's visor actually had to intensify its polarity to deal with the flames.

The MagLev began to slowly glide forward. Jace watched as the rest of the swarm fell back, not wanting to be cooked as well. He sat down on one of the chairs and sighed a breath of relief. The door opened and Carmine re entered the car. The two clasped hands and nodded to one another.

Carmine took his helmet off revealing his brown hair and boyish face. He gave Jace a toothy smile and said, "I really hate bugs now." Jace couldn't help but laugh a little, "At least the worst is over."

But Carmine didn't hear what he said, he was to busy staring out the window of the train. Jace arched his head around and gasped. It appeared as if a large hive had been constructed by the drones. Hundreds of the bugs flew around tending to the nest. As the train went by they either paid no attention to it, or in some occasions were hit by it being left splattered on the front windshield.

Jace filmed the hive with the small optic device that was placed on the right side of his helmet. "We are going to need to blow the whole tunnel and flood the bastards out," he grimaced. Carmine shook his head, "That'll be a lot of work for the two of us."

Jace looked up at him, "I know we are going to have to regroup with the others first then deal with this later. Right now it appears the bugs are keeping to themselves down here." Carmine muttered under his breath, "If the others are still alive," but Jace didn't hear it as he was too fascinated by the hive outside.

It was another ten minutes before they got to Union Station. The pair quickly made their way to the surface and upon emerging Carmine kissed the ground. "Oh sweet ground and fresh air I thought I'd never see you again." He rolled around on the ground making odd noises. Jace was getting annoyed, "Rook, get the hell up, we are fighting a war here. You making weird fuck noises is definitely going to attract some Covenant baddies."

Carmine rebuked his statement, "It's night and us ODST are the masters of…." He didn't continue as he saw the condition of his environment. Manhattan was devastated. Multiple fires were present everywhere almost making it seem as if it was daytime. Smoke billowed up from multiple areas. Many buildings and skyscrapers were either completely destroyed or were broken in some way. Multiple phantoms could be seen patrolling the skies above the city

"Holy shit," was all Carmine could get out.

Jace kept his cool and calmly stated, "We need to disappear right now, find a place to bunker down, then we will go out in search of any other survivors."

_Survivors,_ Carmine thought to himself, _Shit we aren't even soldiers anymore. _He quickly adorned his black helmet and followed the Corporal off into the concrete jungle. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**October 22, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan Shoreline, Earth, Sol System**

Ellie awoke suddenly. Instantly she began to heave and she violently coughed up some river water. After her mini panic attack she sat up and took in her surroundings. She was on the shore of Manhattan. The sun had set and the moon was out as bright and big as ever.

Next to her, her helmet lay upside down; to keep the sand out. On her other side a fire had been constructed from old trash and some twigs. The flames from the fire illuminated the area_. _ She marveled at the crude work. She tried to remember what had happened. _Oh that's right I almost drowned, Azo must've saved me. _

She looked around for the Elite but could find neither hide nor hair of him. "Where is he?" she asked herself.

"Where's who?" a voice said behind her. She whirled around in surprise to find the Elite standing behind her. In his hands were what appeared to be some sort of skinned animal.

"I meant where you were?" Azo nodded as he placed the skinned carcasses on two skewers made out of what Ellie could only guess was a rat or a cat, over the fire. As the grotesque carcasses cooked Azo turned back to Ellie, "You almost drowned human."

Ellie smiled back at the Elite, "I know I did, thank you for saving me."

"It was my pleasure Ellie, but now we are way of course."

Ellie looked surprised, "What do you mean? How far off course are we?" Azo shook his head, "I can only guess maybe a mile or two down river from our boat turn over, the current was strong." Ellie put a hand on the Elites shoulder to reassure him, "You did a good job Azo, I don't blame you at all; if anything it was my fault for not being able to swim properly."

Azo pulled off the skewers and handed one to the ODST. She accepted it and then highly wished she hadn't. Her confirmation it was a rat was proven right when she saw the long stringy tail. Azo had skinned it completely. He then gut it and removed most of the organs. Its head had been severed and its skin had turned an awful charcoal color. She almost vomited upon being handed one.

Azo however tore into his like a Viking into a calf leg. Elites had a weird mouth system. They had four mandibles instead of one real mouth. He would grab pieces of the rat with his mandibles and then tear off pieces. Ellie watched in disgust as the pieces of meat were funneled down into his throat.

She looked again at her _meal _and shrugged. She hadn't had the necessary amount of calories to function to her fullest and she was down right hungry. Azo glanced over at her, and through a full mouth asked, "What's the matter don't like your meal?" Ellie didn't answer; with an aggressive thrust she took a chomp out of the rat.

Surprisingly it tasted a lot like chicken albeit a little saltier. She took another bite and smiled. Azo looked at her face of relief and laughed. Ellie flipped him the bird and continued eating. The pair ate in silence for the next few minutes. When she was done she threw her skewer into the river. Azo simply placed his in a compartment on his armor. "What do you need that for?"

Azo looked up at the woman, "This skewer makes an impressive dagger type weapon, at the moment I can use whatever I can find." Ellie nodded in agreement, and she checked her own weapons. She had about two more clips for her M7, her M6C and she had a couple grenades left. She had her combat knife, but she wasn't to keen on using it. She checked her armor, and besides a few dents and scratches and some multi colored blood stains, it was in okay condition.

She turned to the Elite who was staring up at the skyline of Manhattan. "It is quite marvelous of a creation," Azo said in amazement, "It is even on par with our home city of High Charity." Ellie perked up at the announcement of their home world, but decided against questioning him as it might break his trust of her. Instead she boasted, "Yup it is some piece of human ingenuity, it's over five hundred years old." Azo looked simply amazed his mouth was partially agape. Ellie tried her best to stifle a giggle.

Azo turned around and sighed, "I feel horrible for destroying such beauty."

"It's not your fault friend, you were just following orders, we all have to follow those," Ellie reassured him. But Azo wouldn't hear anything of it, "No my people have burned down countless numbers of your worlds. We should have just let you join the Covenant."

"Why weren't we allowed?"

Azo shrugged, "The Hierarchs marked your kind down as vermin and you must all be eliminated." Ellie was about to rebuke with harsh words but Azo continued, "That is until I saw how much you are like us Sangheili; Noble warriors and just trying to make it in the world."

Ellie smiled, he had changed a lot since Ellie first met him twenty-four hours ago. He had been so hell bent on killing that Brute Chieftain, he hadn't mentioned the guy in a couple hours. That reminded her that they had to get back down to business, "So Azo what's our next move?"

Azo turned and to her surprise laid down, "Sleep."

"What!"

Azo opened one eye and glared at her, "While you were knocked out and sleeping for all that time I was out foraging and trying to find out where we were."

Ellie huffed, "I was knocked out, and I couldn't help it." Azo turned so his back was to her, "Well now you have first watch for at least three hours." Ellie opened her mouth to protest but Azo had begun snoring, "I know you're not asleep wake up you bastard." Azo snored louder.

She sighed and sat by the fire, "Wow what a little alien diva."

Elsewhere, across the East River within a loading dock near the Brooklyn Bridge, Cur Kasamee deactivated his active camo. The Sangheili stretched his limbs as he stared across the river. Gunshots and explosions could be heard galore.

Tano appeared next to him. "I still think siding with the humans for help is…. Is atrocious," disdain evident in his voice. Cur shook his head, "It is the only way my brother, we have no one left and the humans are all we got right now."

"We can defeat the brutes by ourselves!" Tano shouted, "The humans are vermin and this plan is going to get us killed."

"This plan is going to get us off this planet!" Cur roared back, "Tano silence your tongue, just because we are long time friends doesn't mean I will hesitate to put you in your place." This was a lie, but he had to assert his authority over his friend for fear of a coup.

"Very well Field Marshall, we shall follow your plan," Tano responded with a hint of annoyance.

Cur nodded, "We shall meet the humans tomorrow at this time. I do not want to bring the entire force over, as the humans might fear it as an attack. We will take one Phantom, choose seven of our best soldiers, but mind you I do not want them all to be your SpecOps soldiers. We shall be the delegate that goes to the humans."

Tano nodded and stalked off to choose the warriors who will be meeting the humans tomorrow. _Not all my SpecOps warriors, was Cur not trusting of me anymore? _Tano brooded on the thought until he got to where the others were.

"Tomorrow is going to be a very interesting day."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen **

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Gunnery Sergeant Carter Fenix and five other figures leapt over the fence and entered the grounds of the Core World Bank headquarters. Carter and the others moved quickly up the cement walkway until they got to a ledge overlooking a courtyard. The group leapt over the railing into a courtyard. The first thing Carter noticed was the bullet holes and plasma marks on the walls of a courtyard.

A young sounding voice came over the COM, _"This is Delta Dispatch, all available teams advance to the Core World Bank towers, evacuation will commence ASAP."_

Another voice spoke, this one probably from one of the Army units within the building, "_Copy dispatch, what's the status on the landing pads?"_

"_Tower Pad is green; let's move these civvies before it changes."_

"_Roger Dispatch, 6-9 out."_

"This is bullshit," Lombardi muttered, "How are the six of us supposed to do anything to help the others."

Turns out that there were civvies still in Manhattan, a lot of them. Command estimated at least ten thousand were still within the city. They had been hiding among the rubble and destruction of the city from the Covenant. There was also a significant amount of law enforcement and even some Army troops still in the city. They had been engaging the Covie bastards in guerilla warfare since the initial fall of the city.

With the arrival of the marines and ODST, the military presence among the city decided to attempt to evacuate as much of the civilians as possible to a safer location outside of the city. They concluded that the Core World Bank headquarters; which was the second tallest building in Manhattan, second to the Empire State building, was the best place to get the civilians out.

The Core World Bank was a large building. It consisted of a civic center area for visitors and employees to relax. The civic center leads into the main building which was large on its own scale. Inside was the main entrance So Colonel Winters decided to assist by sending the 81st ten pelicans to extract civilians from the two tower landing pads on the upper floor of the towers.

Marines and army troops worked side by side as they evacuated hundreds of civilians from the area back to their forward operating base near the harbor. They had been hard at work since dawn of the morning, but around 10 o clock the covenant caught onto their little ploy. They sent countless Phantoms and troops to eradicate the humans. The UNSC was holding their own but they were soon going to fall.

The Troops there requested for back up, but the only back up they could afford was the ODST. The Helljumpers had been given a break since they took the bridge and hadn't set out with the majority of the 81st marines in patrols throughout the city. But Captain Van Zandt had taken around fourteen of the ODST to target a covenant garrison in the _High Rollers Casino _near Times Square, leaving only half a dozen of them left. Colonel Winters ordered the ODST to go and help the besieged troops at the Core World Bank building. Personally Carter agreed with Lombardi; there was no way half a dozen troops will be able to help the troops at all, he was surprised if they even made it there. But orders were orders and he had to follow them.

Fenix and the rest exited the courtyard and came to a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs they could hear plasma fire and the sound of someone screaming. The six ODST sprinted to the top of the stairs. Upon getting there they were met with a horrible sight. At least a dozen civilians lay dead in the immediate area. Some lying in a pool of their own crimson blood, others sprayed with plasma burns or spikes. There were a few Army corpses as well. Two Jackals also were present. The pair of vulture aliens turned at the arrival of the ODST. Carter quickly shot one before it could even activate its shield. The other got its blue shield up just as Banks and Lombardi fired on it. The shield held and the alien back pedaled.

A third Jackal sprinted out of the brush it was hiding in and ran around the corner out of view. The remaining Jackal followed suit, and once it was adjacent to the wall sprinted around it. Carter and the others stacked up on the wall and Carter peered around the corner just in time to see the last Jackal sprint through metal double doors into a darkened area he couldn't really see pass.

He signaled for his comrades to follow him. They moved stealthy towards the doors not wanting to be ambushed by the Jackal Carter hadn't seen run into the room. After doing a quick sweep he concluded that the other one must've ran in as well. "Get some grenades in there."

Banks and Essex meandered over to either side of the doors and skipped grenades into the darkened room.

"Fire in the hole," Banks shouted, just before a fireball gushed out the door. There were screams from inside the room. Essex swept in and did a quick check, "It's clear."

The Gunny nodded and turned to Lombardi and Li, "I want you two to flank around and head up into the 2nd tower, Help those leather necks out and keep me posted."

"Yessir!" They both shouted in unison and proceeded back into the area from whence they came to look for another route. Carter turned and proceeded in after Hawks. The two Jackals were torn to bits. Their purple blood splattered everywhere over the room. "Nice work," he said to the two ODST.

"Thank you sir," Essex said. Banks simply nodded.

"_All units be advised," _a deep voice warned over the B-Net_, "We have reports of grunt suicide squadrons."_

"You got to be kidding me," Hawks moaned. As if the voice actually heard the sergeant it added, _"Don't take these guys so lightly, they're lethal, keep your eyes peeled."_

The group proceeded through the back door in the room, deeper into the complex. They entered the dark corridors of the maintenance crews. The four ODST blended in perfectly with the shadows and dim interior. Carter was on point and halted the group. A blue light was visible around the corner. Suddenly a grunt armed with two plasma grenades in its hands charged out from around the corner at them. Fenix quickly put a burst into it, it fell like a stone. The two Plasma grenades primed and detonated turning the body to ribbons.

"That was close," muttered Banks. Fenix nodded, "Stay frosty troopers."

The group proceeded down the corridor that the grunt came out of. As they walked they heard a conversation over the COM.

"_Delta 1-1, this is Delta 6-9, that Covenant Cruiser is getting awfully close to the 2__nd__ tower."_

"_Roger that 6-9, will direct nearby anti-air to fire on cruiser to buy you some time."_

"Where the hell is all our air support we brought over here?" Hawks asked as the group cleared each room they came across. Fenix shook his head, "It's busy elsewhere, in fact I don't think the platoons of marines are even in this tower, they might be in the 2nd."

"What!" Hawks shouted in surprise, "You mean we got Army grunts to work with here, aw we are so screwed."

"Give the army boys a chance," Essex said with a slight Hispanic accent, "They fight as hard as we do." Hawks huffed, "Ha, that's a load of BS, I bet half these guys haven't even seen the Covenant before let alone fight them."

"Well, you know they've been fighting for over three days against the Covies and I think they are doing a damn well job," Essex retorted with a slight hint of anger.

"Cut the chatter you to, remember we got a mission at hand," Fenix barked trying to get their focus back on the mission. They proceeded for a few more minutes in silence as they cleared each room without a hitch. But a hitch approached them when they came to a large boiler room. They came around the corner and half dozen grunts came charging at them with Plasma grenades.

"More suicide chargers!" yelled Banks. As one the group of Helljumpers fired their respected weapons putting the entire group down in seconds. They ducked out of the room as the plasma grenades went off setting off a chain reaction of explosions.

Fenix cracked a smile and led the way. They went into another room and saw more grunts coming at them with plasma grenades. "Fuck this," he muttered and took one of his nades of and pulled the pin. He heaved catching the lead grunt in the head. The grunt fell over unconscious but soon died when its plasma grenades went off taking out the entire squad.

"That's how it's done," Carter boasted. The others gave him a round of fake applause.

"Aw you're the coolest Gunny."

"Yea what will we ever do without you?"

"Assholes," Carter joked, playfully pushing Essex. The group proceeded up the stairs from whence the grunts came and spotted a door. The door opened automatically as they approached and they were almost blinded by the sunlight.

Carter exited to outside and almost bumped into a person. By his outfit he could tell he was a civilian. The man seemed frightened and looked up into the dark opaque visor with horror.

Suddenly a Phantom descended down from above into the courtyard. Its turret fired on the group. The ODST scattered returning sporadic fire and the civvie ran. He and two other civilians sprinted down the ramp leading into the courtyard.

"You're running right into them," Carter shouted, but to no avail. Cursing he ordered the others to follow him. The Civvies had ran behind a giant container and cowered. An army trooper corporal stand in front of the container firing at an unseen foe. As the ODST approached he breathed a sigh of relief and continued firing his MA37 Individual Combat Weapons System (or MA37 Assault Rifle). He had been firing at a brute minor armed with a spike rifle. The four ODST quickly helped put down the behemoth. "What were those things?" the corporal asked.

Hawks shook his head, "Brutes, they are like the new Elites in the Covenant."

"ODST fan out and help neutralize tangos in this sector," Fenix barked. A chorus of yessir responded and the other three Helljumpers fanned out to engage the newly arrived Covenant warriors.

"ODST, where did they come from?" a female trooper asked as Carter passed her. The corporal berated her, "Who cares, as long as we got some back up."

Carter flanked up more stairs to the right and moved along a small eatery till he came to a ledge. From there he saw the Phantom deploy of some more troops before it ascended into the sky. He popped up and fired. He quickly downed two grunts and wounded a third before they could get into cover. Another brute minor fired its plasma carbine in quick succession; missing Carters head by inches. Carter fired and it took a full three seconds to put down the Brutes shield but after it did it was easy picking for the marine.

More brutes and grunts attacked the left flank but the small number of Army Troops and ODST easily defeated them. Carter keyed his COM to the Corporal, who he assumed was in charge of this small group, "Corporal, this is Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, what's the skinny? Over"

"_We had about twenty five civvies here that need to get to the evac site. We were leading them there when we got ambushed. I lost three of my men and about ten civvies got hit," _The Corporal responded.

"How do we get to that tower to get these civvies out?" the Corporal responded almost instantly, _"Elevator in the atrium goes up into the tower and then from there it's a simple walk till we get to the pads."_

Someone broke out over the COM, _"This is Sigma 2-9, we are in the Atrium with some NYPD officers, we are taking a pounding here we need reinforcem…" _the transmission cut off.

Fenix nodded, "Corporal I want you and your unit to guard the civvies out here, me and my men are going to go in and try to assist, we will tell you when it is safe to enter."

"_Yessir," _the army trooper said, _"And sir, good luck hunting out there." _ Carter nodded and signaled for his squad to follow him into the atrium.

The atrium was a sky lighted rectangular court, containing multiple plants and benches for sitting. Two stairs led up the middle to the second floor where a large bill board posting the current stock of multiple companies was hung slightly above eye level on a pillar. Surprisingly it still showed the stock of each of the companies; they all showed zero dollars. Since the invasion of Earth money hasn't been circulating as well as hopped and most companies lost thousands if not all employees due to evacuation. Farther behind the stock board were multiple elevators leading up into the towers.

It was a beautiful area that attracted the eye of many visitors and employees of the building. Now it was a horrible scene, bodies lay strewn everywhere. Bullet holes and plasma marks riddled the walls and pillars as if it was some sort of crude drawing.

The Army Troops of Sigma 2-9 were down to six men. Plus that were about four other NYPD officers armed with pistols and shotguns. The rest were either lying dead on the floor or too badly wounded to help in any way. The ten soldiers fired onto the Covenant forces that were slowly but steadily approaching down the stairs towards their position.

The bullets either bounced harmlessly off the shields of the brutes or the shield gauntlets of the Jackals. The grunts; for once, weren't in the front but behind the safety of their shielded comrades.

One army troop fired his MA37 at a brute but ducked back around the pillar he had taken cover behind as a spike grenade impaled the spot his head had been a second ago. The trooper screamed a primal scream and with amazing reflexes grabbed the grenade and heaved it back at the brute from whence it came.

The brute let out a surprised grunt and attempted to dodge out of the way. It wasn't fast enough and the grenade detonated; killing it and three grunts.

Carter led his ODST over to said trooper and asked, "Hey what's the situation?" The trooper turned around, he couldn't have been any older then twenty, "Brutes got us pinned, they're slowly advancing onto our position, we are gonna get over run."

Carter hefted his MA5C and said, "Right here's the plan, you guys keep them pinned from here and I'll flank around and hit them from the left flank." He looked over at his squad, "Banks, Essex stay here and put down support fire, Hawks cover me." Hawks nodded and followed the Gunny into a side room of the Atrium.

Hawks took a knee sweeping the immediate area with his DMR and looked over at the gunny, "You sure you want to hit the flank alone, I could back you up." Carter smiled, "thanks for the offer I got it though." With that he leapt up and began _scaling _a pillar to the upper level.

He leapt down and landed with a grunt on the floor of the upper level. He moved quickly along the glass ledge until he was parallel to the advancing Covenant force. He peeked over the rim and saw about three brutes, three jackals and over a dozen grunts milling behind them.

He ducked back down and primed a grenade. He counted to three in his head then heaved the nade at the group of Covenant. The grenade bounced once, twice and then exploded. One of the brutes and half the grunts were consumed by the blast. The other two Brutes let out a roar of anger and fired at Carter.

The glass along the ledges shattered as the spikes passed through them. Carter blind fired back but to no avail. He ducked down to reload. Three grunts came around the corner firing their plasma pistols. Carter quickly switched to his M6 and put the little aliens out of their misery with precise head shots.

He finished snapping in the clip for his assault rifle and popped up back over the ledge, ready for action. But there was no need. The remaining Covenant had been neutralized by the others.

"Area secure!" a trooper shouted giving a rough kick to a brute corpse.

"Corporal," he said over the COM, "Bring those civvies up now, before anymore Covenant show up."

"_Right away sir," _the Corporal answered. Carter turned his attention to the current group in front of him, "The rest of you search this area, don't want any little grunt or sneaky Jackal popping out and surprising us." The small group dispersed and searched throughout the rest of the Atrium.

"_Gunny, this is Li, we have entered the 2__nd__ tower and are proceeding up the elevator to the landing pads." _Li said briskly over the COM.

"Right keep safe you two."

The Corporal and the rest of the army troops brought in the civvies. By the look on their eyes as they saw the dead bodies, Carter concluded they were terrified. But who wouldn't be, they probably never even seen the Covenant before.

Many people on Earth never even thought they would have to see the Covenant. ONI propaganda reporting that the Covvies were temporarily being held at bay in the inner colonies; well that was a load of bull. Truth is the Covenant has been slowly stomping on humanity for the last twenty something years. It was just a matter of time before Earth got hit.

"Sir we got nothing," Essex reported in. "Right then I want those civvies on the elevator and up to the landing pads," Carter said. The civilians were all placed in front of the elevator doors and the corporal went up to press the button; but nothing happened.

"What the hell," He swore pressing the button multiple times, "Where's the elevator?"

"_We are evacuating a group of civilians from the cargo hold," _the odd voice of Sigma 7-1 put forth over the COM, _"as soon as they reach the landing pads I'll send it back down."_

"Right everyone find a position," Fenix ordered, "Stay sharp and wait for that elevator."

The odd humming of a phantom could be heard, Carter looked up just in time to see the purple dropship fly over head and descend into the courtyard east of the Atrium.

"Dropships," someone made known, "deploying to the courtyards watch your flanks."

"Corporal!" Fenix shouted, "Get those civvies back against the wall out of the way, the rest of you guys take cover here they come."

Four brutes backed by half a dozen Jackals and grunts leapt out of the Phantom and charged into the atrium. The firefight was fierce. The air was filled with plasma and needler rounds.

Carter dropped three grunts before he was forced to take cover. An overcharged plasma shot clipped Essex in the shoulder, melting right through his armor. He fell backwards, clutching his shoulder in silent agony—plasma burns were absolutely horrible. Carter took a quick glance and deduced that he'd be alright—the plasma hadn't hit his actual shoulder. It had just grazed the flesh.

Carter returned fire, laying down some much-deserved lead onto the Covvie bastards. The constant thump of Hawks DMR became music to his ears as he downed another Brute with a clean shot through the head. The aliens' brain matter blew out the back of its head and stained an advertisement board behind it.

The board was of a family of three frolicking through a meadow. The brutes' brains were all over the little girls face, giving Carter an eerie feeling. A Jackal came at him from the left wielding —what he could only assume was some sort of energy knife.

ODST were trained in CQB profusely. And Carter showed it. He brought his left arm up in a quick sweep catching the Jackal in the throat. The alien was knocked almost vertical. Before it could even land Carter unsheathed his Combat knife and brought it down right into the Jackals abdomen. The alien squawked its last squawk as it hit the ground with a knife impaled through its stomach.

Carter pulled out the knife and cleaned it on his arm guard; he looked up to see that the rest of the Covvies were defeated.

"Sir the elevators here," a trooper noted. Carter nodded, Alright load the civvies up on the left one, but I'm going up first in the right one to make sure everything is clear, Banks your with me."

"Yessir," Banks said snapping off a crisp salute and trotting over to the elevator. Another Army trooper was already in the elevator when it came, "Hey sir, I guess I'll be your bellhop for this ride, going up?"

"Yes sir," Carter entered the elevator with Banks on his heels. The trooper pushed a button and the elevator began to slowly ascend. They entered into the tower where they could see most of Manhattan. The city looked as if it was hell itself.

_Shit, this is Delta 6-9, that cruiser is right above us!." _Carter glanced over at the identical 2nd tower. The purple shark like ship that was a Covenant Cruiser hovered right above the towers highest point. A few Pelicans were still being loaded up on the landing pads.

A purple beam of light began to form under the cruiser. Carter recognized what was happening. He keyed his COM and yelled into it, "Shit Li and Lombardi get out the cruiser is going to gl…" The light forming under the cruiser suddenly shot out downwards. The entire tower was consumed by blinding light. The glass on the elevator windows shattered and the trio were knocked down. The whole process lasted no more then five seconds. When it was done the entire 2nd tower and part of the surrounding area was completely gone, reduced to nothing but glass.

"Oh my god," Fenix muttered, "I sent them to their deaths."

**Authors Note****: You may have noticed that this chapter might resemble a level from a certain video game that had just come out. Sorry about that one but I just loved that level so much I had to incorporate it into my story. You also might notice that this chapter is incredibly long, I haven't really been writing much lately and felt I should work hard on this one. Hope you enjoy and thank you all for reading and I especially want to thank you guys who have reviewed, love ya guys.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen **

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

_Shit, this is Delta 6-9, that cruiser is right above us!." _Carter glanced over at the identical 2nd tower. The purple shark like ship that was a Covenant Cruiser hovered right above the towers highest point. A few Pelicans were still being loaded up on the landing pads.

A purple beam of light began to form under the cruiser. Carter recognized what was happening. He keyed his COM and yelled into it, "Shit Li and Lombardi get out the cruiser is going to gl…" The light forming under the cruiser suddenly shot out downwards. It was as bright as a small sun, the group was temporarily blinded. The entire tower was consumed by blinding light. The glass on the elevator windows shattered and the trio were knocked down. The whole process lasted no more then five seconds. When it was done the entire 2nd tower and part of the surrounding area was completely gone, reduced to nothing but glass. A thick cloud of dust formed for at least two klicks around the fallen tower.

"Oh my god," Fenix muttered, "I sent them to their deaths."

He sat there watching as debris and dust settled to the ground. A cool breeze entered from outside. He began to visually tremble. Banks scooted over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Sir try hailing them again." Carter looked up at his comrade and nodded feebly.

"Li... Lombardi," he stammered, "You guys there?" The COM was packed with people reporting in casualties, it was chaotic. Carter clicked off his mic; there was no way he would make them out in that mess. He had just noticed too that the elevator had stopped.

"Oh shit," The Army trooper; with the name Vin inscribed on it said. The Covenant Cruiser had changed its course and was moving into position above the tower they were currently in.

Suddenly there was a loud sound, like a thousand cannons firing at once. The alien warship shuddered as the supersonic slug from Ellis Island's mass driver smashed into its bulbous prow, crumpling the iridescent plating with a tremendous, metallic clang. At the same time, all the remaining windows in the buildings around the World Bank Building shattered. Thousands of pieces of glass rained down onto the ground below. Carter hoped no one was under that lethal storm.

"What was that?" Banks uttered.

"That was a mass-driver slug," Vin informed, wiping sweat from his brow, "Pretty much like a MAC; though in this case it is used for mining operations under the Hudson River."

The Cruiser began to vent some serious atmosphere. It hovered in place for a moment before it began to slowly fall to the ground. It looked as if it was going to take the tower out anyways but at the last second it shifted trajectory and headed towards the ground near the tower. Right before it hit the ground the Covenant ship pulsated and a purple wave of energy burst off of the ships hull and enveloped the building. The ship slammed into the ground; kicking up a load of dust and debris that was added to the dust from the fallen tower.

"What the hell was that?" asked a perplexed Banks. "EMP pulse I presume," Vin answered, "And it worked too, the COM's are down."

Carter keyed his mic and all he heard was static, he clicked it off with an annoyed look. "Elevators stuck too," Banks said pushing the emergency button, but nothing happened, "What do we do now?"

The two non coms looked over at the Gunny. Carter pondered it for a second before replying, "We need to regroup." He looked over at Vin and asked, "How far are we below the landing pads?"

"About nine or ten levels from the top," He seemed to think about something, and then added, "My CO Staff Sergeant Neville should be a floor above us, we should regroup there and see what he says."

Carter nodded, "Good call kid, now first we got to get out of this elevator." With that Vin and Banks grabbed hold of either side of the elevator doors and pulled. They grunted as they struggled to get it open, but finally the doors slowly creaked open. Fenix took point into the corridor.

The hallway showed a dark red as the emergency lights kicked on. It was as if they were walking into the gates of Hell. Carter proceeded down the hall slowly, sweeping his MA5C from left to right and back, looking out for any tangos. They came to a four way intersection and halted. Carter made a signal with his middle and index finger— pointing at his eyes then out into the hall, "I got a visual on three tangos."

The three tangos in question were a trio of grunts that were lazily milling around. It seems they had been posted there on guard duty. "Move up stay in the shadows and take them out."

The trio of humans moved swiftly into the other corridor and up against the walls.

"Smoke 'em," Carter whispered. Instantly all three fired onto the trio of aliens. The grunts let out a squeak as they were peppered by bullets. They all fell like stones; dead.

Carter shimmied on over to the dead aliens and observed their bodies. He knelt down and policed a plasma pistol from the lead dead grunt. He clipped the C shaped weapon on his shoulder; he suddenly ducked quickly as a grenade like object rocketed over him. The ammunition exploded on the wall behind him. He looked up to see a golden armored Brute Captain Major armed with a Brute shot that was pointing right towards him.

The Brute shot was a rather particular design, looking like a combination of something from the Stone Age combined with something out of a sci-fi movie (it being 2552 and them being an alien race probably explains the latter). It has a fast firing rate for a grenade launcher; capable of firing four grenades in about three seconds. Like the other Brute weapons, it has a blade slung onto its bottom to use for devastating melee attacks.

The brute laughed and fired again. This time one of the grenades was going straight for Banks. Carter leapt and tackled the black ODST out of the way. As they hit the ground and skidded to the wall, he heard a grunt of agony behind him. He saw Vin's upper torso land with a sickening thump on the ground near him. He had no idea where the rest of him was.

Seeing the young man killed in such a way mad Carter mad. He was mad he couldn't save him and he was mad it couldn't have been him instead of Vin. He reached for his assault rifle but thought better of it; instead he grabbed the plasma pistol from his thigh holster.

The Brute was reloading and Banks was unconscious. Carter pressed the trigger and held it. The two nodes at the ends of the barrels started to hum and glow. A sizzling orb of crackling green plasma energy; looking almost like a shiny green apple, hummed into existence in between the two prongs at the ends of the 'C' as the plasma pistol overcharged.

Carter released he ball of energy, which leaped from the plasma pistol with a loud hiss. The overcharged plasma struck the brute right in the chest. Now the damage was superficial, it wasn't really supposed to hurt the brute, what it did do however was knock off the brutes shield in one shot.

The brute's shields sparked and sizzled and suddenly dissipated. The brute looked completely stunned for a moment; it then looked up at its attacker. But it was too late to react. Carter charged the brute firing with his assault rifle as he went. Bullets riddled the brutes golden armor and some made contact with his flesh. The brute howled in agony as Carter tackled it to the ground. He sat on its chest and put the muzzle of his MA5C right in its mouth.

"Die motherfucker," he pulled the trigger and the back of the brutes head exploded outwards and brain matter and blood spilled out. Carter got up off the alien not even bothering to look at his handy work. Banks had come to and was groggily getting up off the floor, "Aw what the hell happen…" he stopped when he saw Vin's body. The two ODST made their way over to the limp form of the army trooper. He was missing the lower half of his body. His intestines and some other vital organs were spilling out from the opening below him.

"Damn," Banks muttered, "the army grunt was a good man."

"Yup," Cater said pulling off the kids' dog tags. The two made their final respects and then proceeded up the flight of stairs at the end of the hall up to the next floor.

They found Staff Sergeant Neville in his makeshift command center in what appeared to be a lobby for that floor. Neville was about 6'0 and actually looked kind of young to be a staff sergeant. Carter guessed him at being maybe 25. As they approached Neville turned from talking to one of his Corporals to the pair.

"What's all this then," he said in a thick English accent, "A pair of ODST specialist, why might I have the honor of meeting the Marines top Special Forces?"

"Just here to help Sergeant," Fenix said sincerely, "We need to get up to those landing pads and clear it so a group of civvies can evac."

"Evacs going to be a little tough," The Englishmen said, "we got Phantoms dropping off buku bad guys above us on the landing pads, and with no communication because of that damn EMP we can't organize a through counter attack."

_Oh shit, _Carter thought to himself,_ I almost forgot about that cruiser and the tower falling._ He knew he needed to get some answers before anything else. "Sergeant, do you know the death toll on the people in the tower that fell?"

The Army CO didn't even hesitate as he answered, "Somewhere between 300 and 400 why?" He knew that it was selfish for him to be worrying about his two men when hundreds of other lives were at stake, but you had to see it from his point of view. He had started this mission off with a full squad, but on the drop he lost Jace, Ellie and the rookie and god only knows where they were—though deep down he had a feeling they were dead. Now he had lost Lombardi and Li. He was the only one left in his squad. He had been with those men and woman for a while; since the Trines Campaign. And he might not have really known the Rookie, but he still had been under his command. Now they were gone… all gone.

"I could show you the K.I.A list," Neville piped up, "Though a lot of it is Civilian casualties as well." Carter would check the list later; right now he had a obligation to get those remaining civilians out safely. "So what's the skinny how much tangos do you suppose are up top?"

Neville thought about it for a second d before answering, "Y'r guess is as mint as mine. I can't contact any of my men up top to get numbers but I assume a lot. We hae a pair of our Falcons flying around the tower trying to assist with strafing runs."

"Hmm this is just like Reach," Carter murmured to himself.

"Say again Gunny."

"Back during the Fall of Reach, I used to run with a squad of ODST called the Bullfrogs," He explained, "When the City of New Alexandria was attacked, we were dispatched to the Traxus towers to help evac civilians."

"So it's like Deva vu for ye isn't it?" Neville inquired. Carter nodded as he continued his story, "Yup so we had to figure out a way to clear the landing pads in a very similar situation like this one."

"So what did you do?" asked Banks who had been idling by while the two officers talked.

"Well back then we had jetpacks and a Spartan to help us," Carter pointed out, "And since we seem to be a little short on both, I'm not too sure how it'll help us here."

"So is there a purpose to your story Gunny, or were you just trying to put us to bed," said an annoyed Neville.

Carter glared at him, but you couldn't tell because of his polarized visor, "As I was saying, it should be about the same concept; I will proceed up to the top floors and regroup all your men. From there we will push out and take back the landing pads."

Neville nodded, "I'll stay here Gunny and coordinate things, I'll also try to reach command and get them to bring a few Pelicans."

"Right Staff Sergeant, a few of my men should be leading a group of civilians up here, they should be here any minute see to it they are safe."

"Sure thing Gunny," Neville said with a salute. With that Carter signaled for Banks to follow him. "And Gunny," Neville added, "Good luck hunting."

Carter smiled and went on his way. Oddly that was the second or third time someone's told him that today. _It's been a really long day. _


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty **

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Carter and Banks made their way outside of the command center. They moved into a corridor that ran parallel with outside. The windows were shattered and the afternoon breeze coming off of the East River was bone chilling, but the two ODST sucked it up and moved on. A UH-144 Falcon flew by at fast pace, and it was answered why when two Banshees were seen flying on its tail. The Falcons door gunners fired away trying to keep the Covenant fliers away.

"Hope they make it," Worried Banks. "They will those pilots are some tough SOB's," reassured Fenix as they moved on to an upper level.

It wasn't long before they heard the sound of a firefight. Carter and Banks cautiously moved to the end of the corridor and peeked around. A group of Six Army troopers were pinned down at the end of the hall by a lance of grunts and a trio of Jackals. The Covenant group was so focused on the army troops they didn't notice the ODST behind them. Carter instantly took advantage of this.

He raised his MA5C and fired into the group. The grunts yelped out in surprise as they were hit from behind. The Jackals were hit in their unshielded backs and went down squawking. Caught in crossfire the Covenant troops stood no chance. They were torn to shreds.

Carter made his way over to the army troops taking care not to step in the multi colored puddles of alien blood.

"Thanks a lot Gunny," One of the Troops; a sergeant said as he approached. Carter quickly cut to the chase, "You know Staff Sergeant Neville?"

The group nodded, "Well he has given me tactical command of his forces, and we are to push up to the landing pads and clear it so Pelicans can come in and evac a group of civvies still here.

The Sergeant nodded, "then lead the way Gunny."

The group set out, heading up through the next couple levels of the tower, acquiring more besieged troops and equipment. By the time they got to the landing pad he had a squad sized group of a dozen surviving troops. "The landing pads are through here Gunny," the Sergeant from before said pointing to two large wooden doors."

"Right I'll lead the way," an eager young Private said taking point. He ran to the doors and they opened automatically.

"Wait!" shouted Carter, but it was too late. The Private ran through the door and was suddenly enveloped in a blinding green explosion. All that was left were to scorched boot prints. Carter looked up and spotted two Hunters within the room leading onto the landing pads.

"Hunters!" he yelled, "Take cover." All the UNSC troops present sprinted for what ever cover they could find. But it was little use; the Hunters fired their Assault cannons all over the place; chuckling—it was more of weird gurgling sound— as they went. Carter ducked behind a pillar but still felt the heat of their shots as it passed by his head by mere inches.

"Sir those Hunters got us pinned!" Banks shouted from his cover behind a pillar. "I know, I know!" He shouted back. He was beginning to think they weren't going to make it.

"Ya-_ ho_!" Carter turned at the sound of jubilation. He turned just in time to see a gray and blue armored figure leap off of one of the upper balconies and land on one of the hunters back.

The Hunter gave a warble of pure surprise and anger, and it started turning this way and that, trying to throw the ODST off. The ODST pulled out a M7S and fired a burst into the hunters' unprotected areas—all the while whooping and shouting like he was in rodeo. Orange eel like things spewed out of the area the ODST fired the SMG. The Helljumper pulled out a plasma grenade primed it and pushed it inside the Hunters wound. The ODST did a spectacular leap off the Hunter and then landed into a fancy roll. The Hunter shook around trying to bring its shield arm around to pull out the grenade but it was too late. The Hunter imploded in a gory mess of orange eels and blue charred armor.

Seeing its bond brother dead the other Hunter let out a roar of anger. This roar was silenced by a rocket flying from the upper balconies right into the hunters Assault Cannon. The Assault Cannon sizzled and began to melt away slowly. The Hunters arm was completely limp and seemed like it was going to fall off.

Another rocket was fired and seared to the Hunter. To everyone's surprise the Hunter actually batted the rocket away into the wall, by using its shield to hit it on the side. But in doing so the Hunter left itself wide open. Carter saw this and fired his Assault Rifle into the behemoths open midsection. The others followed suit and the Hunter soon keeled over dead; orange eels pouring out of multiple bullet wounds.

Carter walked forward and inspected the body. "We sure did a number on him didn't we Gunny?" a voice said from behind him. He turned and was surprised to see Lombardi standing there; smoke still bellowing from the M41 SSR he fired.

"Yea we did Alex," the other ODST said, he recognized the blue and black markings and the trade mark SRS99D-S2 AM slung across his back. It was Ricky Li and Alex Lombardi; _they had survived_.

"What?" Carter said, almost speechless, "How did you guys make it."

"That'll have to wait Gunny," Li said looking outside, "We got a phantom loaded for bear on the platform!" Sure enough a Purple Covenant Phantom was loading off Brutes onto the landing pad. But these were no ordinary brutes; these ones sported jetpacks.

"Jump Pack Brutes," Carter yelled out, "Engage those tangos."

The ODST and Army Troops engaged the Brutes. But this was no easy feat. The damn Jump Pack troopers were all over the place. Carter put down one; hitting in its jump pack and sending it spiraling off of the tower. An army Trooper near him put one down with his MA37, yelling out, "Aww my condolences you ugly alien motherfucker." The rest of the Brutes were dealt with swiftly, but they also lost two more army troops. Carter had them wrapped up in black duffle bags and have them transported back to the base.

The COM crackled, _"Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, this is Staff Sergeant Neville; I've gotten the COM's back up, what is the situation with the pads?" _

"Pads are green I repeat pads are green, tell my boys to bring those civvies up for evac."

"_Roger that, they are on their way, E.T.A on the evac birds is five minutes," _Neville responded.

"Roger that," Carter looked up at the sky. He could glimpses of explosions that looked like they were fireworks in orbit. _Navy is still putting up a fight. _But how long was before they were completely defeated and then the Covenant ships would turn their complete attention to Earth? But it wasn't like there weren't Covenant ships in atmosphere already. He looked out and counted at least three Covenant Cruisers patrolling the skies above New York; anti air rounds flying out from the urban jungle into the sky trying to shoot them down. Why didn't they just glass the place; it was anyone's guess, but he figured that since so much of their ground forces were already in the city they didn't want to fire on them. If that was true then that was a blessing in disguise. He looked down at the fallen cruiser to the north of the tower. The cruiser, a once-proud and regal warship of the Covenant Fleet, now resembled a grotesque beached whale. _At least we scored a minor victory. _

He looked out over the vastness of Manhattan. The city looked nothing like it did a week ago. More then half the buildings in the city had to be destroyed in some way. So many skyscrapers and buildings had fallen that there seemed to be a permanent dust cloud covering multiple areas of the city.

Well New York is the city that never sleeps, but instead of car horns and thousands upon thousands of people, it was gunshots and plasma fire, and thousands of combatants trying to exterminate one another.

His train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of the Pelicans and the civilians. He cracked a smile upon seeing the civilians. They looked scare shitless. Leading the group were his two ODST Hawks and Essex.

The Hispanic Marine was complaining about walking up all those damn stairs, "Seriously we had to pick such a tall building to evac in, the elevators didn't even work after a while."

"Can you stop bitching;" Hawks snapped back, "See we are here now."

Knowing he was defeated Essex kept quiet, but nodded to the other ODST when he approached. "Nice work here Gunny," Hawks congratulated the tired Gunnery Sergeant. Fenix nodded at the compliment and looked over at the civvies then pointed to the green Pelican Dropship that had turned around and was backing up onto the pad, "That's your ride, it will take you to Echo Base—our current base in the Harbor—from there you will be evacuated to Brooklyn and out of this hell hole." There was a chorus of applause and cheers as the civilians boarded the Pelican. One little girl went up to Carter and gave him a hug; he was so stunned that he almost didn't hug here back.

"Thank you," she said as she went with here mother into the troop bay of the Pelican. Carter nodded as the ramp closed and the Pelican began to ascend into the sky. Another Pelican was already approaching.

Staff Sergeant Neville suddenly appeared next to him making him jump a little. At this point anyone would be a little on edge after dealing with a tower full of Covenant.

"Thanks a lot for the assist, Gunny," He said lighting a Sweet William Cigar, "Without you or your ODST's we might not have been able to pull this off."

"No problem Staff Sergeant, just glad I could help," Replied Fenix in earnest.

"Well looks like my ride is here," he and the rest of his men piled onto the other Pelican. Neville stepped onto the 'blood tray' and turned around, "Another Pelican is en route here E.T.A two minutes or so." He turned into the dropship as the ramp closed and the Pelican lifted off.

The six ODST were left on the landing pad of the Core World Bank tower alone. It was almost an eerie feeling knowing they were the last in the building. Death lingered everywhere.

"Um, what if the Covie decide to storm the building?" Inquired a nervous Banks. It was a logical question. If the Covenant did decide to put a counter attack on the towers there was no way the half dozen Helljumpers were going to be able to hold out, but Carter knew he had to keep morale up while it was still there.

"Don't worry we will carve them a new asshole," he reassured. He turned to Li and Lombardi, "Alright spill it, how the hell did you two get out of the 2nd tower?"

"Don't you see sir?" Lombardi piped up flexing, "We are just some bad ass mothe…"

"Seriously," Fenix grunted.

"Alright alright Gunny," Li said, "You see we were ordered by some Marine Sergeant to garrison and hold one of the lower landing pads on the tower."

"And when the Cruiser started approaching," Continued Lombardi, "We got out on a Falcon just as it fired on the tower."

"Others weren't so lucky," mourned Li, "But we got out and went on approach to the 1st tower, from their we were dropped off at one of the executive towers on the higher floors."

"From there we made our way down and happened to come across your pretty face and happened to save you from those Hunters."

Fenix nodded as the story came to an end, "Well I'm just happy you two are alive."

A shadow enveloped them and they looked up to see a Pelican coming in. "_Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, this is Kilo this is Dagger 1-1; I'm on approach and ready to pick you boys up."_

"I hear ya' Kilo 1-1, thanks for the pick up." The Pelican came in low did a pass overhead and swerved around. It descended onto the pad and the ODST quickly piled on.

Carter placed his MA5C onto the rack above his seat as did the others with their respected weapons. He sat down taking off his helmet, and gave a long sigh, "Finally some rest." They had been out since noon and the sun was beginning to set.

"Yessir Gunny," Lombardi said placing his helmet in his lap, "Us Helljumpers do a lot and get little credit."

"Yea it all the credit ends up going to those Spartan freaks," Essex said his voice laden with anger. Carter knew about the ODST's intense hatred of Dr. Halsey's SPARTAN-II Super soldiers; something he personally didn't partake in. The hatred started when some Spartan teen wiped the floor with four ODST on board the UNSC _Atlas_, it is said he killed two and severely wounded the others. Ever since then the ODST have always strived to prove their worth was more then that of a Spartan. However, he knew deep down inside that without the SPARTAN-II they probably would've lost this war by now, even though they were hanging on only by a thread at this point.

"Well I guess that's why there are no Spartans left," Hawks protested. Over the course of almost three decades most of the Spartans were reported M.I.A—though a lot of people knew they were dead—The only remaining one was the Master Chief and he was in lala somewhere after he and the crew of the _In Amber Clad_ pursued that Covenant Assault Carrier through slipspace.

The troop bay came alive with laughter and a chorus of agreement from the ODST at the comment. All but Carter who had fallen asleep; the chaos of war and death was temporarily forgotten for the Gunnery Sergeant.

The Pelican swayed back and forth as it rode off into the sunlight back towards Echo Base.


	21. Chapter 21

**As of 10/10/10 I have decided to retract my previously made statement from before. I will be continuing my fanfic ****We Were Soldiers, ****albeit at a much slower pace then I did before. I will no longer be churning out 3 or 4 chapters a week, I will only be making 1 or 2 a week. The reason being should be in the reviews and I'm pretty much restating what I said in that.**

**Special thanks go out to the following:**

**NEBSparky86**

**Trevtrev04**

**The Rescuer**

**You guys have been reading throughout my whole fanfic and kept reading despite the bad chapters and hard times. Not to mention you reviewed which people seem not to like doing one fanfics despite that being a major point. I won't disappoint you guys and I thank you and all the others for reading.**

**xXChrisdabeastXx**

**Chapter Twenty One**

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

The Pelican got back to Echo Base just as the sun completely set over the horizon. Echo Base —for all intents and purposes— was a full capable and equipped military base. It was a klick and a half of land in the East Harbor. The motor pool was located at the far west of the complex. Hundreds of marines milled about on guard duty or repairing vehicles. Most were in their barracks (which were simply warehouses converted into sleeping quarters) or in the mess hall. To stop Covenant Banshees from doing strafing runs on the base, multiple SAM sites had been erected. And to stop the giant cruisers, hovering over the city, from simply coming gin and glassing them, the Colonel had ordered a mass driver to be placed towards the center of the base. That mass driver had been responsible for taking out that cruiser at the towers earlier.

The Pelican swiveled its tail engine around and descended on the makeshift landing pad made out of a simple white tarp weighted down with cement blocks. The ODST thanked the pilot and disembarked. Lombardi stretched his back and gave a long yawn, "Aghh, what a day, I'm tired like shit."

"You got that right," Banks replied. Essex began to walk off from the group, the black marine glanced over at him, "Yo Essex, where you going?"

Essex turned around sluggishly, clutching his shoulder, "I'm going to get this shoulder checked out, and that burn is beginning to sting a lot." The others nodded in agreement and Essex walked off in the direction of the infirmary.

The group walked on. As they did they got some peculiar looks from the marines. "What's got those fags in a mood?" Lombardi grumbled, "The way they looking at us you think they would've thought we were the freaking Master Chief strutting his stuff."

"Ha in a way we are," Li said, "Six of us go to a building under siege by hundreds of Covenant and we are able to rally the troops there and get them and the civvies out."

"_Force multipliers," _Essex said with a wide grin. It was a proven fact that at the sight of Helljumpers joining the battle the morale and drive of their comrades was increased. Though the sight of a Spartan was a lot more morale raising then an ODST.

The group laughed at the statement before Carter said, "I'm going to hit the showers real quick, I'll catch up with you guys at the mess hall."

"Alright Gunny, but you better be fast I'm starving and I might just have to eat us outta house and home," Lombardi said with a smirk and they went their separate ways. Carter to the barracks and the others to the mess hall.

Carter strolled through Echo Bas at a leisurely pace. He passed many non coms on guard duty or just chatting amongst themselves. As he walked around the corner of a warehouse he was met with a depressing sight. Hundreds of tents had been placed near the docks. This "tent city" consisted of hundreds of canvas tents that could fit maybe three fully grown men a piece. These however were housing entire families as they waited to be evacuated. With the liberation of Manhattan under way thousands of people began to flock to Echo Base. These tents had been hastily erected to accommodate them. The people would stay there for a few hours before being sent on their way on UNSC controlled ferries across the East River to Brooklyn where they would be further evacuated out of the area. However due to air strikes by the Covenant most of the ferries occurred at night, this caused the tent cities to become overrun with refugees.

Carter turned down another alleyway away from the tent cities and proceeded into the barrack area. The warehouses that served as the barracks had been simply cleaned out and had beds put in them.

He approached the ODST barracks nicknamed _Hell's Sleeping Chambers_ by the Helljumpers. He went inside and was surprised to see four ODST resting on the small mattresses of the multiple bunks in the warehouse.

Two were sleeping while two others were on the same bed kissing. Carter had to clear his throat to get their attention. "Emiliene, you know you could get a court martial for fraternizing with your squad mates."

A stout, but beautiful young woman looked up from the man she was kissing, "Gunny are you really going to court martial me over making out with my friend."

"Friend?" The ODST she was kissing; Juan was his name, said with glaring eyes.

Emiliene slapped him softly on his head, "Oh shush you know what I mean," she looked back at Carter and said, "Now Gunny I don't think we have enough soldiers to go off court marshalling every single one who breaks a small rule."

Carter shook his head as he placed his MA5C under his bunk and began to take off his body armor, "Geez I was playing around, can't your XO have a little fun here and there."

Emiliene smirked, Carter looked over at the other two sleeping ODST, "They hit the hay kind of early?"

The female ODST eyed over to her sleeping comrades and remarked, "They are seriously tired, we all are, those damn Covenant were dug in hard as crap in the casino, we ended up just leveling the entire building with an artillery strike."

"That can't be good for the cities budget?" Carter joked as he looked for his towel and wash cloth.

"I don't think an alien invasion is good for the cities budget," Juan added, getting a slight laugh from the other two.

"Anyways I'm going to the showers I'll see you guys later," With that Carter made his way outside to the shower room (which had actually been a shower room when they got here) a few warehouses down.

He entered and was relieved to find no one else in there. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by his body; he just wanted some time alone. He got out of his black body suit and entered the hot water of the shower. He sighed and let the warm water wash over his body for a minute before he soaped himself up.

Six minutes later he was out of the shower and in front of a mirror. He shaved off the stubble that had formed on his lower jaw. He didn't really like the idea of a beard and he hadn't shaved for almost a week now.

After he toweled down and washed my face, the only thing he could look at was my scar. He had a few scars but this one was the most prominent. Running from his right eye to his mouth it was visible to everyone and he didn't mind. It kind of made him out as a badass soldier, who had been in quite a few close scuffles with the Covvies and lived to tell the tale.

He put on his tan tank top and green cargo pants. He laced up his boots and proceeded to the door and to the barracks. On a normal October night it would be usually around fifty to sixty degrees, probably a little less then that since they were next to the river, but with all this fighting going on and explosions and heated plasma flying everywhere the temperature in the air had risen to nearly seventy degrees.

He entered _Hell's Sleeping Chambers_ and found it to be completely devoid of life. "They must've gone to the mess hall," he said to himself putting away his towel. He made sure his M6 was in his thigh holster before he made his way outside.

He walked back pass the tent cities and then to the mess hall itself. He entered it and it was surprisingly packed with maybe sixty or seventy marines. He looked around the room until he spotted the ODST at one table in the corner conversing amongst themselves. Upon seeing him Ricky called him over.

He came upon the table plopping himself between Lombardi and Ricky. Ricky passed him a plate of food. "Got your favorite sir, spaghetti and meatballs." Carter smiled at the meal, he hadn't had a legit meal for quite sometime now. He quickly dug in and slurped the noodles down and chomped on the ground meatballs. All around him the others ate maliciously or talked to one another.

He overheard Emiliene and Banks gossiping. "So you guys seriously went into the towers and took on all those covvies by yourself?" The female ODST inquired.

"Sure did," Banks bragged, "Me n' the Gunny took on like a whole battalion just the two of us."

Carter rolled his eyes. Emiliene gave Banks an annoyed look, "That's total bull; you are the worst liar ever."

Banks looked offended, "Hey I'm not lying it's true we really di….." suddenly the alarm klaxons went off in the mess hall. A voice came over the intercom, "_There is a covenant dropship en route to the base, al combat personnel are to report outside to the landing area immediately, this is not a drill I repeat this is not a drill." _

Dinners and conversation were forgotten as the marines and ODST piled out hurriedly through the door. They rushed to the area where dozens of other marines were already were gathering. They all drew their weapons. Carter right now only had his side arm but the others were armed.

The Phantom came in low over the river towards the base. The SAM sites nearby turned and aimed at the Covenant dropship, but didn't fire.

"Why don't they fire?" asked Lombardi angrily. "I don't know," Carter answered confused as well, "It wouldn't make sense for the Covvies to send one Phantom as an attack, what the hell is going on?"

The Phantom swerved and angled it self in the encirclement of marines. It slowly descended sending up a cloud of dust as it did. Carter shielded his eyes as the Phantom stopped and hovered about ten feet off the ground.

A grav beam appeared. The sound of dozens of guns cocking was all that was heard as the UNSC troops waited in agonizing anticipation.

A figure appeared on the lift like Jesus Christ coming on the day of redemption descended to the ground. It was an Elite clad in maroon covered armor that gave it the impression of a beetle.

Carter looked through the reflex scope of his M6 and took aim at the Elite. He lowered his scope when six more Elites descended out of the Phantom. One was carrying a white flag.

"We come in peace humans," The maroon colored Elite said raising its hands to show it meant no harm.

Carter had never been so confused in his life and Lombardi said what he and pretty much everyone else was thinking, "What the fuck is going on?"

_What the fuck was going on? _Well this war just experienced a very weird turn of events.

**Authors note****: Well I hope you like that one there folks. The elites are now going to play a bigger part in this story. If anyone is too confused about who these Elites are or why they are helping the humans please refer back to chapters 6, 14 and 17. Those chapters have had content added that will solve all your guys dilemmas. Once again I want to thank all you people for reading and please please review. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

When the Sangheili exited the Phantom they were met with a large encirclement of human marines all armed. They even had a couple of their Warthog LRVs stationed with their turrets trained on the seven Elites.

The flag bearer; a minor Sangheili named Vuku', desperately waved the flag some more, acutely aware that the tattered rag was more an off-gray than a white. This was the only thing they could find on such short notice, either that or purple, and as the Covenant's primary color, that would have been a bad choice.

An uneasy silence was upon them, the humans didn't make much noise save for the occasional cough or grunt. Tano twisted his head slightly toward Cur, barely daring to move.

"Are you sure this was wise, Brother?" he whispered fiercely.

"Wait." Cur's voice held firm. His eyes never left the mass of humans.

Carter had never seen this before and he was baffled, "What when did the squid-heads ever surrender?"

"I don't know sir," Li sneered, "But I say we just put them down for good measure."

As if hearing him a voice of a commanding officer; Carter recognized it as Lieutenant Dyke, roared, "Alright take aim, prepare to waste 'em."

Tano sneered and reached for his plasma rifle at his hip, the others followed suit, but Cur placed a hand on his friends shoulder, "Hold on brother."

"We do not come here as enemies, Human." Cur spoke deeply, "We have not come to conquer. Not today."

"_My ass," _Dykes retorted venomously; though the swear really didn't make much sense in that use. He looked like he was going to hop on the Shipmaster any second. "All you _do_ is conquer. I've seen what your kind do more times than I can count. Give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot you where you stand."

"_I can Lieutenant!" _a voice boomed behind them. Carter turned and saw Colonel Winters with Captain Van Zandt strolling over to the group. A squad of heavily armed marines escorting them. The circle of humans parted to allow the group through towards the center. Winters swaggered over in front of the lead Elite, not more then an arms length away. He eyed the alien and his cohorts and said, "Can't you see these guys are under the white flag, you know what that means right?" he glared at Dykes accusingly.

Dykes simply looked down at his feet defeated. "It means they are here under the pretense of a truce."

"But sir," Dykes blurted out. "But nothing, they are here to parley and they shall," Shepard turned to the lead Elite extending a hand, "Colonel Winters, 81st Armored Brigade."

Cur looked at the gesture curiously for a second, before finally comprehending what to do.

"Cur' Kasamee," His hand swallowed his. "Field Marshall of 5th Shock Army… or used to be at least." Winters noted the Elites somber tone. "If you will follow me I'll show you to my personal quarters, we will talk in private there."

Cur nodded and signaled to Tano, "Stay here brother and guard the Phantom, if these humans try anything funny I want you and the rest out of here immediately."

"What about you?"

"Do not worry of me, just get the others to safety," Cur turned and followed the Colonel through the frozen mass of humans. Each one staring at him, bewildered and terrified.

The humans were knocked out of their trance by Captain Van Zandt, "Alright ladies and gentlemen enough staring, get your asses in gear, we have enough on our plates, Gunnery Sergeant Fenix I want you and your squad in full gear five minutes ago, you will report back here and watch over our new friends."

Carter nodded, "You heard the man marines' move!" With that the group broke up going about their business, each trying to stay as far away from the Elites as possible.

Colonel Winter's personal quarters weren't all that special. It had simply been an office trailer converted to his liking. He hadn't really moved anything that had belonged to the previous owner. Large piles of papers were stacked on the desk and a cup of coffee that hadn't seemed like it had been drunk sit dangerously close to the edge.

Winters took a seat in the oaken chair behind the desk. He propped his feet up on the desk and rested his hands behind his head, "Take a seat Field Marshall."

Cur shook his head, he was almost bumping his head on the ceiling, "I will have to decline Colonel, my people's anatomy doesn't coincide well with your seating."

"Well then let's cut to the chase then," He said straight up, "Why might I have the honor of meeting you and your guard in my base?"

Cur looked the human straight in the eye and said, "I have come with a proposition Colonel."

Winters sat up eyebrow crossed, fingers entwined Mr. Burns style, "I'm listening."

"I see that you are fighting the Jiralhanae or as you call them Brutes." Shepard retorted slightly, "Yea and not to long ago we were fighting you and your kind."

Cur raised a hand, "I apologize for that." He sincerely meant it. "I can't forgive what you and your kind have put my people through for the last three decades," Winters remarked angrily.

Cur looked down, a sign of dishonor in his culture, but the human didn't know that, "I do not ask for your forgiveness. What we did to your people was wrong and is unforgivable. But that was because we were under the false guidance of our bastard ex leaders, now we seek revenge on them and the Jiralhanae who so gladly follow them."

"What made your people so damn mad at your leaders and the Brutes?" The Colonel inquired. Cur looked up at him and retold the story off the last few days. How the Prophets changed the Sangheili from being their go to guys to enemies of the Covenant, and how they had been hunted by Brutes like wild game.

Winters actually looked sullen when the elite finished his story. He pondered it for a second before extending his hand, "Field Marshall we will gladly have you and your Elites help in fighting the Brutes."

Cur shook his hand with a smile, "You shall not regret it."

Ricky leaned against the drivers' side of a Warthog. Through his opaque visor he glared at a red armored Elite that sat with its arms crossed on a container glaring right back at him. This staring contest had been going on for some time now, but Ricky had loss a while but due to his visor the elite didn't know that. The other elites were idling by. The two black armored elites were conversing near the parked Phantom.

"You know those black armored Elites are like our Covenant counterparts," Lombardi said from inside the drivers' seat of the 'hog.

"The hell they are," Ricky sneered back, "Don't ever compare me to those split jaws again."

Lombardi shrugged, "You know your hate with these guys isn't healthy."

Ricky looked up at his friend, he motioned to the tally marks on his helmet, "Isn't healthy; is it just me or have you forgotten that these guys were the ones responsible for Weathers death."

"I miss Weathers as much as you do man, but we have live and let live," Lombardi said, "And besides, I'm positive it wasn't these exact Elites that killed him."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do," Lombardi retorted eyeing the Elites, "and we can definitely use these guy's help when we fight the Brutes again."

"We can do on our own," Li said slightly saddened. Any further conversation was cut short by the arrival of Colonel Winters and Field Marshall Kasamee. The two strolled up to where the Phantom was parked. Captain Van Zandt and Gunnery Sergeant Fenix walked over from where they were talking. The Elites all stood to attention as their leader approached.

Winters waited for everyone to calm down before he started, "From this day forward we shall be working side by side with the Sangheili, I know some of you might have a problem with this but I want you to stow it, The Elites bring a lot of knowledge of Brute battle tactics to the table and with our knowledge of the city we will crush the brutes."

A cheer went up from the humans and surprisingly some of the Elites. Cur turned to his brethren, "Vuku and Jeer return with the Phantom to the ship yards tell the others of our new found alliance and bring them here." The two Elites nodded and proceeded into the Phantom.

Winters turned to Cur, "Field Marshall if you and the rest of your brothers would like to join me in the command center we can discuss battle plans and movements."

Cur nodded and signaled for the others to follow. Van Zandt turned to Fenix, "Gunny come with me to the command Center we are going to need all the ranking officers we can spare."

Carter nodded and proceeded to follow his superior, but not before warning Ricky to stay in line and not do anything stupid to piss off the Elites.

A large M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle, more commonly known as an Elephant served as the base of command. The behemoth vehicle had been brought in after the area had been completely secured. Inside was vast room enough to fit well over a dozen people. Radio operators worked ferociously on the computers, relaying messages to the front line. In the center of the Elephant stood a large holo table of Manhattan.

The procession proceeded into the Elephant from the back. It was cramped but there was just enough space. Some of the radio operators eyes began as giant as saucer plates when they witnessed the Elites coming in.

The group gathered around the holo table. Carter took note of the amount of officers present. It was a dramatic drop from the amount that was in Liberty Hospital a day ago. The rest were either in the streets of Manhattan fighting or were probably dead.

Colonel Winters pointed at little icons on the holo table. They were little icons of green marines moving back and forth throughout lower Manhattan, but they stopped around China Town. From there the rest of the city was a red showing it was in enemy control. Little icons of red elites showed enemy movement within UAV view. Cur eyed the icons with a raised brow.

Winters saw this, "Sorry for the icons being elites, we haven't had time to update them."

"It is okay," Cur placed his hands on the holo table and studied the map with interest, "I see you have taken some territory from the brutes, good work for only a day's time."

"Yea we took most of lower Manhattan, and the Brutes got pretty much the rest of the city," Winters put a hand to his chin puzzlingly, "Even though we got much of the lower part it isn't completely secure. There is still a lot of Loyalist forces dug in within buildings throughout the area. It's starting to become like the god damn Battle of Stalingrad all over again."

Cur looked at him and asked, "What is this Battle you speak of?"

"Well like 500 years ago, back when humanity was at its worst, there was World War II. This War was terrible and we lost many brave men and women fighting amongst ourselves."

"Any ways during the conflict in Soviet Russia, the axis Germans launched an all out attack on the city of Stalingrad." Winters paused to take a breath before continuing, "The battle was terrible and both sides lost hundreds of thousands of its soldiers. But what made Stalingrad unique was the fact that it was mainly urban warfare. And it was urban warfare at its worst. Some say that it got so up close and personal that you could have control of a kitchen and still be fighting for the living room."

Cur nodded, "I see, and now this battle is taking a similar turn. But let me warn you now, fighting in close quarters with the brutes is not a viable option. They are masters at close range warfare."

Winters nodded in agreement, "Yea we figured that, it's like trying to fight a grown lion with nothing but a combat knife, but we got really no other option to take them out, we can't bring the buildings down for fear of debris."

Cur concurred, "Then it does seem like your only option."

Before Winters could reply a static message relayed over the COM, "_This is Sergeant Howard of 3__rd__ Platoon, Dog Company is anyone there?"_

"We are listening Sergeant Howard," a radio operator responded.

Howard breathed a sigh of relief, _"Thank god, we have been trying to reach someone for twenty minutes now," _

Winters took the mic from the radio woman and spoke into it, "Sergeant this is Colonel Winters what is your emergency?"

"_Colonel, we got a Scarab Walker coming down hard on our asses, my platoon is taking heavy casualties and we already lost two tanks, we need reinforcements now!"_

"Roger that Sergeant, reinforcements are on the way," Winters said before the transmission was cut. Van Zandt stepped forward, "Sir my ODST and I will be ready to get them out in ten minutes, we will just need Pelicans on station waiting."

Cur placed a clawed hand on Winters shoulders, "Let my Elites handle this so that we can show our worth." Winters thought about it for a second before nodding.

Cur turned to Tano and whispered, "Get your men together you shall take down this Scarab."

Tano nodded and turned to Uso, "When Vuku and Jeer return with the others tell them of our mission." Uso saluted and began to walk away before Tano beckoned him, "One more thing brother, get the Antigravity Packs ready, I feel we will need them." 


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three**

**October 23, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (China Town), Earth, Sol System**

Jack Wallace was not having a very good night. Well technically it wasn't a good night since dawn was just approaching and the sun hadn't even risen yet. Anyways it all started when the Private First Class and his Company of 106 Marines (Dog Company), started out on their daily patrol to eradicate and push any Covenant in the vicinity of China Town.

The day before the Marines of their sister company, Kilo Company had pushed in and beaten the covvies back across the Killzingo Canal and into the ghettos of the lower East side. But quite a few Covenant insurgents had remained behind and had caused Kilo some trouble. Dog had relieved Kilo about eight hours ago and now it was their turn to take a crack at getting the rest of the Covvies out so they could set up a clear defensive line.

It had started off pretty well; in fact they hadn't taken one casualty the first couple hours they were here, all the while killing around three dozen Covenant grunts and jackals. The trouble started around midnight when the brutes counter attacked. They sent Brute shock troops to relieve their bewildered lesser comrades. Dog held their own but in all the fighting Wallace and 3rd platoon got separated from the two other Platoons in the company.

3rd Platoon, led by First Sergeant Howard, was pinned down in _Hotel Zulu _when the ground began to shake. They had thought it was an earthquake, but how wrong they were. They saw what it was when it came around the corner of a skyscraper and headed right for the building they were in.

"Scarab!" more then one person yelled.

Scarabs were the quadrupedal behemoths the Covenant used as a mobile fortress. Standing nearly 65 meters they are extremely powerful, possessing an exceptionally powerful plasma beam (mounted onto its "head"), their "bodies" are massive and multi-level, and they possess four legs. They have been a tide turner in many battles and have usually defeated anything in their way. Wallace watched as the Scarab took aim with its front mounted cannon. It looked as if it was going to roar and then it spewed out the large continuous stream of plasma at _Hotel Zulu._ The plasma looked like a giant version of the Hunter's Assault Cannon. It impacted the side of the building and shook the whole place. Wallace and the others shook off the dust that had landed on top of them. Wallace pulled up the balaclava around his neck over his mouth.

Usually the balaclava was reserved for when the marines went into colder combat zones, but since there was so much damn dust and debris filling up in the streets from all the fighting a lot of marines had began to use the balaclava to stop the dust particles from entering their nose or mouth and choking.

"_Private West!" _Howard shouted over the COM, _"Get some Javelin fire on that thing." _West, who was in Wallace's squad unslung the giant tubular rocket from his back. Yes, five hundred years in the future the Javelin was still a reliable weapon. Though it had had a few improvements over the years. It now had a much longer range, capable of shooting out to over 6,000 yards. It also had a much better aiming system, but besides that it was the same old weapon used by the U.S. military back in the early 21st Century.

West knelt down and placed the rocket on his shoulder. He looked through the aiming reticule and waited until he heard the tell tale beeping noise confirming he got a lock. "Back blast clear, firing!" he shouted as the rocket flew away from the tube out of the window. The missile flew forward for a few seconds before abruptly flying upwards. It traveled up for about 100 feet before it arced and came down.

The missile landed right on the Scarab's main body. A lance of grunts and Brutes were wiped from existence by the missile but the Scarab seemed to take no damage.

"Javelin is ineffective, I repeat Javelin is ineffective," West reported to Sergeant Howard.

"_Roger that, we are getting some armor support, stand by," _Howard retorted.

"Any air support?" Corporal Michaels, his squad leader asked.

"_Negative, it is all used up with helping with the evac on the river," _Howard said, "_All we got now is the tanks."_

Michaels swore, Wallace turned his attention back to Scarab. It was fast approaching, each ground shaking step a testament to its coming.

"Fuck," Wallace swore under his breath. Suddenly an explosion rang out on one of the Scarabs legs. Circuitry and dangling pieces of metal could be seen falling out of the things leg. Wallace turned to the source of the explosion and a huge grin crossed his face.

Two Scorpion Main Battle Tanks rumbled down the Avenue towards their position.

"_This is Curbstomper," _The tank operator reported, "_we are on approach and are commencing attack."_ The tanks main gun swiveled and began firing on the Scarab. The rounds slammed all around the walker. Fiery explosions consumed multiple of the infantry present on the walker.

A cheer went up from the marines in hotel Zulu. "Haha, how does 90 millimeters of tungsten suite ya?" one marines shouted.

Wallace found himself smiling and cheering along with his friends; but that smile instantly vanished when one of the tanks went up in flames. The scarab fired its main cannon at the tanks. One of them seemed to melt away under the plasma. The other got lucky and was only grazed; though it still left a scorch mark on the side. The tank began to reverse at an alarming rate.

"Holee- shite!" someone yelled. Sergeant Howard's voice came over the COM, and by the way he sounded they could tell they were in some trouble, _"Just got off the horn with Captain Tan, she is ordering the whole company for a full retreat, we fall back to friendly lines and regroup there."_

The marines of 3rd platoon needed no second guessing, as one they all sprinted down the stairs and out of the five story hotel. Just as the last of them exited through the revolving doors the Scarab fired its main gun at the hotel. With a thunderous boom the entire building began to collapse. Dust and debris was kicked up in the air temporarily blocking out the sun for the marines.

Fearless, brave and never backed down. That was what ONI propaganda would say about the marines. But at the moment they were all but that. Wallace had been in retreats before but nothing was as bad as this. They were running their asses off trying to escape from the monstrous Scarab. Wallace had never run so fast in his life; and he was still towards the back of the pack.

All around them the Marines of Dog Company ran at full pace. It was almost as if it was every man for themselves.

"Damn, damn!" Wallace yelled, all around him other marines were yelling similar profanities. Everyone was scared.

The Scarab fired its cannon again. The asphalt behind Wallace was kicked up and a trio of marines were thrown up into the air like rag dolls. One of them landed right in front of Wallace with a sickening thump.

"Oh shit!" he screamed in surprise; doubling his pace. He ran for a good minute more before he suddenly felt as if he weighed nothing. With a horrific expression on his face he realized that he was floating (or rather falling through the air). The Scarab had fired its cannon again and he had been mere inches away from the impact spot and had been thrown into the air.

He landed on his helmet and immediately blacked out.

He awoke, unclear of how long he had been out but when he looked up the Scarab was no more then a hundred yards away. He couldn't move because of shock and felt it was his times too die.

On a building parallel to the boulevard the Scarab was approaching from stood six figures. It was Tano 'Zorahee and his squad of Special Operations Sangheili stood atop the building. Strapped to their backs were Antigravity packs. The Covenants version of a jetpack.

Tano knelt down and observed the fast approaching Scarab. One of its massive legs speared a eighteen wheeler tanker and was consumed in a fiery explosion, though this didn't affect it at all. He watched as it fired its main gun at a group of humans retreating down on the streets. A couple of the humans were killed instantly by the plasma or thrown in the air like dolls.

Uso took a step forward from the others and asked, "What's our plan of attack sir?"

Tano stood up and turned his head towards him, with a wicked smile across his face he replied, "Follow me."

Without warning Tano leapt off the building and free fell for about twenty feet before activating his antigravity pack.

"You heard him men," Uso shouted, "Dive!" The other five Sangheili activated their packs and leapt of the building after their leader.

Wallace watched in amazement as six figures literally flew off a building above the Scarab and flew down towards the walker. Around a dozen Jump pack brutes leapt up off the scarab at their new foe.

Wallace stared in wonderment as the eighteen combatants performed aerial acrobatics with one another. Dodging plasma and firing back. One of the people from the building actually dodged a punch from a brute and went behind it and ripped off its pack. The brute plummeted to its death in the streets below.

The six figures easily dispatched the brutes despite being outnumbered 2:1.

Tano landed on the purple hull of the Scarab. He brought his plasma rifle up and fired a burst right through a grunts head. The others landed around him. "Clear the top of the Loyalist scum."

The six Sangheili dispatched small force guarding the top of the Scarab in record time. "That was too easy," a young Sangheili, Verkut was his name, remarked with a hint of pessimism.

A hatch towards the back opened and ten brutes and a lance of jackals came out armed to the teeth. Leading them was a Jiralhanae War Chieftain armed with a plasma cannon.

"Spoke to soon brother," Uso remarked firing his needle rifle. The giant shard like piece of ammunition flew out and penetrated through two grunts before dissipating.

The two sides of the Covenant clashed right there on the top of the Scarab. But even as they fought the walker still moved forward firing on the humans below. Tano knew that Scarabs were controlled by the Lekgolo worms; the same worms that made up the Hunters. And he knew the only way to destroy it was to destroy the core.

He fired the last of his plasma rifle rounds into a Jiralhanaes head. Reaching down to his thigh he quickly pulled out his energy sword and sliced a grunt in two. He leapt out of the way as the War Chieftain fired its rapid fire weapon at him. The plasma lashed of his shields and his shields began to dissipate. He knew he couldn't take another burst like that.

He moved like a cheetah towards the Chieftain. Bringing his sword up he made a lunge for the brutes head. But with tactical speed the War chieftain brought up the plasma cannon as a defense. The sword dug into the cannon cutting about halfway through.

The plasma cannon began to make a sizzling noise and plasma was leaking out of the gash. The brute let out a cry and heaved the weapon just as it exploded.

Tano smiled realizing the Chieftain was unarmed now. But he spoke to soon. With a shhk twin blades extended from the jiralhanaes wrist gauntlet. Tano ducked as the brute swung for his head. He turned his arm and tried to swerve up with his sword but the Jiralhanaes wrist blades parried the strike. For a few seconds they were locked in a parry.

"By the gods, how does your metal hold up against my sword?" Tano inquired. The War Chieftain laughed and boasted, "It is made up of a metal only found on Dosiac, it is resistant to anything short of itself."

Tano felt his legs begin to buckle. This Brute was obviously stronger then him by far, but then again so were most Brutes. He suddenly came up with an idea. He let the Brute put his dull weight on him and rolling onto his back he kicked the Jiralhanae off of him. Before the brute could react he brought his sword down onto its neck, decapitating it.

Uso came up next to him and observed his work, "Nice kill Brother, that shall grant you much honor."

Tano shook his head, "It does not matter right now, we need to blow up that core, cover me while I go to the back." Uso nodded and leveled his needle rifle firing at the remaining Covenant forces.

Tano leapt down onto the level below. This one was more of a precarious ledge with only about six feet of walking room. He made his way along the edge. He saw a grunt laughing manically as it fired the stationary plasma turret it was operating. Tano ended his fun by coming up behind the grunt, ripping off its mask and with a powerful throw flung it off the ledge.

He made his way to the back of the walker until he finally reached the core. The core was covered by a glowing red circle of an energy shield. He slashed with his energy sword and the energy barrier fell. With another slash he sliced into the core. Sparks fizzled off of it and alarm klaxons could be heard all throughout the walker.

Tano keyed his COM, "Uso, you and the others need to get out quickly, this things going to blow."

"Right sir, but what about you?" Uso worried.

"Don't worry about me brother, just get out of here."

Wallace was shocked; the Scarab was no more then fifty yards from stomping on him, when it suddenly appeared to shut down. Sparks and blue fumes could be seen escaping from multiple parts. Its legs seemed to collapse and it fell forward.

He was so stunned that he didn't even think to run from the explosion. Luckily Verkut; who leapt off with the others landed in front of the stricken human and picked him up and cradled him under his arms like he weighed nothing and leapt off again.

The pair landed another hundred yards back. Here the other SpecOp Sangheili gathered around the small barricade the humans had set up. Verkut dropped Wallace to the ground.

The human was almost speechless, all he could mutter was a quiet, "Thank you." Though Verkut wasn't listening he turned back to the Scarab just as it exploded. The explosion was like a giant blue flame. Metal pieces flew in every which way. Two of the buildings next to it caved in and added their debris to the mess.

"Tano!" Uso shouted running back towards the crash, but Verkut grabbed his shoulder, "No brother don't, we must move before more Brutes come upon us."

Uso shrugged off his hand, "Then let them come I will slay them to find my brother."

"I don't think there is any need for that," one of the marines said, pointing to the fallen scarab, "look."

The group turned and gasped, Tano was walking out of the flames like some ghostly figure. His usual black armor seemed even blacker as he swaggered over to the group. The SpecOps Sangheili stride over clasping their leaders back.

"Great to see you brother."

"You took out that Scarab like a true warrior."

"Your kill will grant you much honor, haha"

Tano shook hands and nodded, "Thank you Brothers, but it will take more then a little explosion to kill me."

Tano turned towards the group of humans gathered nearby, "Which one of you is the leader?"

Howard stepped forward; the black marine made sure his sergeant's cap was on straight and walked up to the Elite, "I am Sergeant First Class John Howard, and who might I be speaking to."

"Tano 'Zorahee, my Field Marshall ordered me to relieve you men of your little Loyalist problem," Tano said gesturing to the fallen Scarab.

"Holy crap is the Elites on our side?" Asked a confused Corporal Michaels.

Howard gave him a stern look for speaking out of term, looking back at Tano he said, "Thanks for the assist, but why are you Elites helping _us_ Humans?"

Tano shook his head, "I wonder the same thing, but it is my Field Marshall's orders and I will not go against them."

"Well I am glad that you are on our side now," Howard said smiling, "With your help we might actually win this battle."

Wallace couldn't help but smile as well, this was like freaking Christmas, and honestly this was one of the best Presents you could ever get.

**Authors note: ****I hope you liked this one. I'm sorry for taking a week to get this one out I was swamped with a project that took nearly the entire week to do. On the plus side todays my Birthday and I would get no better presents from you guys then reviews. Lots and lots of reviews hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. So yea review. **


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four**

**October 24, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System **

The tension in the Brute command center was so thick you could cut it with a knife. High Chieftain Dractus strolled in front of three of his top commanders; all Chieftains in their own right. The other half dozen or so Jiralhanae present in the vast chamber kept to themselves not wanting to ignite their chieftains' wraith.

Dractus stopped pacing and turned to the center Chieftain, "Ceretus, explain to me what exactly happened again."

Ceretus gulped. He was a large and menacing Jiralhanae in his own right, but he was nothing compared to the crimson armored Dractus. "My lord, the humans entered into the island city through that large bridge south of he….."

"I know that!" Dractus shouted slamming his fist against the wall, "Tell me what happened to Karamus and his counter attack!"

Ceretus straightened up and continued, "Sorry lord, anyways when you dispatched Karamus and his battalion to push the humans back to their base near the southern tip of the island he commandeered a Type- 47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform." He took a breath before going on, "He made it to the human province dubbed "Chinatown" by the vermin and began to eradicate the human forces there."

"Then why Karamus, is one of my Scarabs destroyed?" Dractus snarled, he reached down to the side of his chair for his hammer.

"It was the Sangheili sir," Karamus blurted out, raising his hands to block the inevitable blow. Dractus stopped in his steps. "Sangheili," he muttered. He seemed to ponder the thought and then turned back to his brethren, "Leave all of you, I will like to speak to Ceretus alone."

The other brutes left in a hasty walk out through the large double doors of the command center. Dractus sat down upon his throne, "Come close Ceretus."

Ceretus had never been so scared in his life, but he knew disobeying an order from Dractus was asking for a death sentence. As he approached Dractus motioned to the platter next to him, "Here come eat up brother, this right here is some of the most delectable thorn beast, freshly cooked too.

Thorn beast was a large docile herd animal. They got their name from the large spikes or thorns on their spine. It had been roasted to perfection and served back up and legs splayed. The head and neck were missing due to neurotoxins.

Ceretus didn't need any second bidding, he strolled over to the carcass and took off a piece of leg and tore into it with his massive teeth. As he ate Dractus swaggered over and put his arm around his comrade, "Now tell me what you know about these Sangheili?"

With his information being the only thing keeping from Dractus smashing his face in he decided to savor the moment, "My memory is a little fuzzy lord, perhaps some more food will…" next thing he knew Dractus threw him to the floor and stepped on his chest. "Tell me what you know you damn fool or I'll enjoy watching the Kig- Yar feasting on your entrails!" Dractus pressed harder with his foot.

Ceretus struggled to talk, "Sorry my lord, I didn't mean any..thing by it, I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Glad you see it my way," Dractus said raising his foot off of Karamus' chest and sitting back in his throne. Ceretus quickly got up and bowed before his leader, "Well sir it is quite simply put like this. When the Hierarchs ordered us the Jiralhanae to eradicate the Sangheili we followed suite by wiping out the battalion stationed here, but apparently a small contingent lead by the notorious Field Marshall Cur Kasamee was able to avoid destruction. We got word of a trio of Phantoms being hijacked a few days ago and the culprits were apparently SpecOps Sangheili. We have assumed these Sangheili are part of Kasamees' group. Long story short the Bastard Sangheili got to the humans base and some how made an alliance with them. That's why are Scarab was taken out by joint human-Sangheili forces."

Dractus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Now are to greatest enemies are teamed up against us? And an assassin is out to get me" Ceretus nodded.

"Have Abacus and his stalkers been tracking the assassin and his pet human?" Dractus questioned. Ceretus again nodded. "Then it makes no difference," Dractus boasted, "We shall eradicate both of them in one place now."

"We shall lord," Ceretus put in.

Dractus looked slightly confused though, "Just tell me how the Sangheili were able to get within spitting distance of the humans base. With those anti-air emplacements you would think they would have shot them down before they could do anything."

Ceretus shrugged, "Humans are weird creatures sire, we will never fully understand their ways." Dractus nodded in agreement before continuing on, "So how is the tunnel going?"

"It should be operational by tomorrow morning sir, the Huragok are working full time on that bomb too, and its yield shall be exponential."

"Good very good," Dractus mused. Ceretus hesitated before he asked his next question, "Sir if I may ask, why don't we just maximize are use of the multiple tanks, prowlers and choppers we have and make one solid armored push into the humans base?"

Dractus cracked a smile at his subordinates question, "Well it is simple Ceretus, the city has taken so much damage from battle and is literally falling apart. There is so much rubble and debris in the streets our tanks can't get through. And even on the streets they can navigate through the humans are taking full advantage of battling on home turf. Ambushes everywhere. Even when we begin to push them back they fall back and literally disappear into thin air."

"This is a problem that will delay us our victory isn't it lord?"

Dractus stared out through the window at the slowly setting sun in the distance, "It will delay our victory Ceretus but heed my word it shall not stop it, we will crush all the Sangheili and their human puppets and we will make this pitiful planet glass when we are done with it."

**Five miles away from the Command Center**

Lepidus ducked down behind the counter he was using for cover. He blind fired a few rounds from his spiker over the top hoping to hit one of the bastard humans. Another Jiralhanae by the name of Pedus plopped down next to him, his blue armor indicating a minor class.

"These humans got us pinned," Pedus shouted over the din of the humans' automatic weapons. "Tell me something I don't know!" Lepidus shouted back.

Lepidus was a Jiralhanae Captain. He led a small detachment of a dozen Unggoy, half that amount of Kig-Yar and around five Brutes into a office building to set up a listening post on the edge a human territory. Little did they know that this place was already occupied by a dozen human marine and army units. The humans got the jump on the Covenant and most of the Unggoy and half the Kig-Yar were dead after a few minutes. Most of the Jiralhanae were also dead; only Pedus and himself were the only brutes left.

Now the Brutes were no strangers when it came to close quarters combat; they had been fighting with their bare hands for all of their life, but this was different. Lepidus never saw the humans fight with such ferocity and so tenaciously. They maintained perfect fire discipline and when they utilized their environment very effectively. Memorizing where everything is or just plain out knowing what to shoot.

He witnessed one human actually fire and hit an electrical appliance which caused it to blow up and incinerate a few of the Unggoy and Kig-Yar. It had also singed part of Lepidus' fur.

The Unggoy were absolutely no help; the few that were left just ran around in circles screaming and fleeing. The Kig-yar was of more help but currently the ones that were alive were pinned down in the many cubicles around the office space.

Now it wasn't like the humans hadn't taken their fare share of casualties either. Lepidus personally accounted for two confirmed kills and one wound at least. And there were a couple others who were down as well. But Lepidus knew that it wasn't long before the humans wiped them out.

Lepidus peered over the desk he was hiding behind and fired a burst from his spiker. The spikes flew out and almost hit the human he was aiming for, but the human dipped back into the cubicle he was near.

Another pair of humans knocked over a table and used in for cover as they put suppressive fire down onto the two brutes. He ducked down as the lead zipped right over his head. Pedus ducked back around too.

"What are we going to do?" he cried. Lepidus looked at the minor in disgust, even in the face of unsinkable odds, Jiralhanae never gave up or signed defeat, and the fact that this rookie was cowering in front of him made him mad. But he had a way of toughening him up.

"On my go," Lepidus barked, "You go out right and I'll left, we will charge them."

Pedus seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding, Lepidus returned the nod then shouted, "GO!" as one the two brutes ran out from the cover of the desk and charged the humans. Lepidus didn't even flinch as Pedus' head was blown off by a round from a human shotgun, his blood splashing onto his purple armor.

He primed a spike grenade then heaved it. The grenade lodged into a human's leg. The unfortunate soul yelled out in agony. That was the last thing he ever did before the grenade detonated ripping his leg from his body and sending spikes flying in every direction, killing another human.

Lepidus was temporarily slowed down as the bullets pinged off of his energy shield. His shield suddenly dissipated and collapsed. Part of his armor fell off and he suddenly became angry. His eyes became bloodshot and he let out a primeval roar as he charged the last group of humans.

The marines fired but to no avail. They actually seemed shit scared as Lepidus came upon them. He slashed with his spiker severing ones arm, and he punched another in the face getting a sickening crack as he broke its skull.

He picked up a human female and actually tore one of here arms off and beat her with it. After this massacre he began to calm down. His eyes turned back to normal and the strong scent he had been giving off slowly disappeared. He looked around at the carnage. Crimson blood lay along the walls of the cubicles and bodies lay strewn everywhere. But they weren't just human their were countless bullet riddled bodies of Unggoy, Kig-yar and Jiralhanae. In fact Lepidus just noticed he was the only living thing left in the place. Everyone else was dead.

His COM crackled to life, "Captain Lepidus, how goes your mission?"

Lepidus recognized the voice of Chieftain Ceretus anywhere, "Chieftain there was already humans within the listening post, and they ambushed us, I was the only one to survive."

"That is most unfortunate, but I have another assignment for you, gather yourself together, you shall meet your new team shortly."

"Very well sir," with that the COM tuned out and turned off.

As if cheating death he let out an all mighty challenge, "Here me gods, I am Ceretus and I shall overcome death and survive this battle. I shall partake on the Great Journey and I shall transcend."

With that he left the bloody massacre behind. The only living things left were the flies that had begun to descend upon the corpses.

Well that was one thing; at least the flies were always happy and well fed. There was no shortage of carcasses for them to feast upon and there wouldn't be for quite some time.


	25. Chapter 25

**So I realized after rereading my last chapter that I messed up on a few dates and I got a couple of the Brutes names mixed up. But can you really blame me, they all have the little –us suffix at the end, it gets really hard to remember who's who sometimes. Anyways I redid my last chapter so you should probably reread that one so you don't go asking who this is and who that is. Anyways this chapter I hope you like because I'm bringing back some fan favorites, yup that's right.**

**Chapter Twenty Five**

**October 24, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Loyalist controlled area), Earth, Sol System**

Ellie Torres followed Azo Kisamee through the ruins that were once the mighty Manhattan. The human and the Elite had teamed up three days ago after Ellie had saved Azos' life from a pair of Brutes. Azo had felt slightly obligated to keep the human around as he felt he owed her his life. Of the last trio of days the pair had become a lot closer. They had each learned about one another's culture quite well. Some would say that they even developed a slight romantic attraction among themselves, but they would never admit that. Besides they were two completely different species, there would be no way it would work out among them.

"Damn this city has gone to hell," Ellie mentioned as she and Azo leapt over the hood of a banged up car. Azo didn't turn his head as he responded, "Yes the Brutes sure have done a number on your island city, but there is something that I cannot wrap my mind around."

"What is it?"

Azo slowed to a stop and turned towards his human companion, "Why haven't the Jiralhanae glassed the city yet?"

"Well you can ask yourself the same question," Ellie said slightly irritated. It took Azo a full ten seconds before he understood why she was annoyed, "Look I am sorry for what my people did to yours, but that is behind us, we are working together now, and the reason my Ship Master didn't burn your city to the ground is because he had enough respect for your people to allow you a chance to escape."

Ellie was puzzled by the statement and was about to question it, but Azo stopped any further conversation. He put a hand to his head and smiled, "It seems we have some company."

"That's awesome," Ellie sarcastically remarked. For the last two days the two have been wandering around Manhattan aimlessly. Though this was easier said then done. They had encroached somehow into Brute territory and had to constantly avoid Loyalist patrols. The only thing that saved them on multiple occasions was Azos' use of the Loyalist B- net; he somehow hacked into the COM. But he could only pick up short wave frequencies within a hundred yards or so. But at the moment this was enough so that they could tell when a patrol was near and they had to hide.

But even with this advantage there were times they had to stay in one spot for hours at a time. This delayed them from moving very far or fast.

A Wraith tank could be heard approaching from down the street.

Ellie led Azo down a small flight a stairs into a below ground level bar. The name _La Caverna _was written on a sign above the door. Ellie kicked down the door and entered the bar, Azo close on her heels.

Ellie did a quick scan with her M7S, making sure the area was clear of enemy tangos. The Bar was a fairly small place, only about 20 square feet, with no tables, just several stools at the actual bar. The main bar itself was L-shaped, leading from next to the back door around to the cash register. A couple of pinball machines were also in place next to the front door. Candles lined the far wall and dimly gave light to the area.

Ellie hopped over the bar counter and quickly grabbed a bottle of sake and vodka. Azo watched with a slight annoyed look on his face, "Why are you getting alcoholic beverages at a time like this?"

"Because I don't know if I'm going to survive this whole ordeal and I want to be live it up while I can," she retorted putting the bottles away in her Rucksack.

Azo shrugged, "suit yourself, but if your aim is impaired because of too much alcohol don't come crying to me."

Ellie smiled, "Thanks, I love to know you got my back."

"No problem," Azo replied curtly making for the back door. Ellie muttered "asshole" under her breath before following her friend out the back.

They exited the bar into an alley. They moved quickly down the alley until they came to a street. Ellie looked up and saw that it was night. Her wrist watch was messed up, and she had thought it was evening, but in reality the light she thought was the sun was in fact the multitude of fires illuminating the city.

She and Azo made their way pass a burning fire truck and down the street. They came to a large pile of rubble and began to transverse it. When they reached the other side they found that they were at a school.

"P.S. 119," she read from the sign that was in front of the school's courtyard. The school was two stories and appeared to be an elementary school. It was an off set gray and many of the windows were broken revealing its dark interior. As they approached Ellie began to get an ominous feeling.

"Do we really have to go in there," She worried.

"What's the matter scared?" Azo chuckled.

"No!" Ellie defended herself, "I just feel there will be an ambush waiting to happen."

"Don't worry you got me," Azo joked. Ellie frowned, "You know, you have a hilarious sense of humor."

"I get it from you." Azo smiled before heading into the school, Ellie following close behind. Had they turned around at that moment they might've saw the weird translocation of air ripple behind them.

They entered through the double doors into the building. In front of them was a long hallway that stretched on for about fifty yards before leading up into a flight of stairs. On either side of the hallway were a multitude of lockers; some of which were left agape and a few classrooms. The classrooms were dark and they could only make out chairs and desk in them. There was a few back packs scattered throughout.

Ellie activated her VISR and everything became outlined in a yellow light. "I can see that they were in the middle of class when you guys invaded." Azo ignored her comment and moved on. His alien eyes adjusted to the dark faster then humans and he could see a lot better then an average human's eye could.

They checked ever classroom to make sure that there was no one there. Azo approached the stair case and was about to take the first step when a beeping noise sounded. It was all too familiar to Ellie. She knew a bouncing Betty when she heard one. She quickly tackled the Elite to the ground; no small feat for such a petite woman. Just as they hit the ground a small cylinder tube flew out of the ground. It went up about five feet to where a human torso would usually be located and detonated.

Shrapnel and flames flew out in every direction but down and up. And that's what saved the pair from becoming filleted.

"By the gods what was that?" Azo cried out as he and Ellie stood up.

Ellie shrugged dust of herself as she responded, "Bouncing Betty, it's a unique mine that the UNSC uses. It is placed in the ground and set so that when non UNSC personnel step over it detonates."

"Hhmm I mine that can sense who it is to be detonated by," Azo mused, "Human ingenuity is amazing after all."

"It gets better and better as time goes on," Ellie boasted, she turned and looked down at the spot the mine was located, "If there is a betty here, that must mean there must've been UNSC personnel here at one point."

"What are you getting at Ellie?"

She began to walk up the stairs deeper into the school, "I mean that maybe someone is still her and we can finally get some help."

Jacen Cole lay against the wall in the far back room of a classroom. His helmet was off and his BR lay next to him. He rubbed his cornrow head. The veteran ODST was just taking another bite of his candy bar when he heard the explosion from downstairs.

Carmine came running into the room in full gear, "Yo Jace we got company." Jace quickly adorned his helmet and grabbed his BR and followed after the rookie ODST.

The two made their way down the hall until they got to a four way intersection. Jace stacked up on the left behind a water fountain and Carmine on the left. He sighted through the scope of his BR; poised to shoot whatever came up the only stairs.

Carmine with his Assault rifle raised questioned, "How do you know they will come up these stairs?" Jace never took his eyes off the stairs as he answered, "The Betty blew up on this side and if whoever is down there tries to flank up the back stairs they will get another Betty burst."

The two waited in silent agony for two minutes before a figure came around the corner and up the stairs.

It was Elite.

Jace sighted up on him, "Carmine I'm going to pop him a couple times in the head and you finish him off." "Got it."

Jace peered through the scope and saw the Elite raise its own carbine. He realized it was aiming at him. He was about to press the trigger when the Elite fired first.

The shot flew right pass his head. It missed, he sighted back up when he heard Carmine shout, "Holy shit!"

Jace turned around to spot a dead Brute in dark gray armor with a mauler in its hand. it had a Cyclops-like helmet with a bright red light emitting from its "eye". A clean round hole went right through the things eye out the back of its head.

The brute keeled over backwards dead. "Did that Elite just save me?" Jace questioned himself. He turned back to see the Elite now had a companion. It was a human. And not just any human it was an ODST. And Jace recognized that slender petite body anywhere, "Ellie!"

Ellie turned at the sound of someone not Azo shouting her name. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted an ODST down the hall. She instantly recognized the _Born 2 Kill_, written on the chest plates of the ODST, "Jace!"

She ran forward towards her friend. Jace ran to her and opened his arms. They embraced in an awkward hug for at least a minute. "I thought you were dead," Ellie said on the brink of tears.

Jace shook his head still holding her tight, "No we made it."

"We?" she questioned. She looked behind Jace to spot another ODST. "Yup me and the rookie made it down been fighting for survival ever since."

Ellie let go of Jace and nodded towards Carmine, "How's it going Rook?"

"I have been better ma'am," Carmine chuckled.

Azo strode over to the trio; Jace stepped in front on Ellie effectively blocking her from the Elite. Ellie giggled and pushed Jace aside, "It is okay Jace he is on our side."

"What?" both male ODST said in unison.

Ellie depolarized her visor and pushed Azo slightly forward, "Guys I would like you to meet Azo Kisamee." Azo hesitated before raising a hand to shake. Jacen wearily shook the outstretched hand, "Corporal Jacen Cole."

"Private Derrick Carmine," Carmine said shaking Azos' hand as well.

Jace pulled Ellie aside, in a hush tone he said, "You want to explain all this?"

"Gladly," she said in a normal voice causing Jace to be slightly embarrassed. She retold the story from when she landed, to how she met Azo and then how they adventured throughout the city together.

"Wow that's… one heck of a story," Jace said afterwards. "Yea it is," Ellie retorted, "So how did you guys come upon this place?"

"Well once we got out of the train tunnels, we wondered for a few hours until we came here, from there we set up a few Betties and planned to wait it out until help arrived."

Ellie glared at Jace, "Yea we met one of those Betties personally."

Jace smiled putting his hands up in mock surrender, "Sorry about that we wouldn't think any UNSC people would travel with an Elite."

"Whatever, I am so happy just to find more people," she quickly looked up at Azo and smiled, "But don't get me wrong, Azo here is a great companion."

Azo nodded his head, "As are you human Ellie."

Carmine chuckled, "I think he has a crush on you." Ellie and Jace both glared at the young trooper. He made a zipping motion across his faceplate and then threw away a imaginary key showing he was going to be quiet.

An explosion sounded from behind them somewhere, "Hmm looks like some more of your pals set off another Betty."

Ellie and Azo looked at each other then looked at Jace, "Um we weren't traveling with anybody else."

Jace suddenly turned behind him remembering the Brute Stalker, he turned back to the others and remarked, "Oh shit."


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: ****This chapter and last chapter were originally supposed to be one but that would've been one helluva long chapter so I divided it. I don't own Halo, but if I did that would be pretty damn cool**

**Chapter Twenty Six**

**October 24, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Loyalist controlled area), Earth, Sol System**

"We must split up and catch the Brutes off guard," Azo commanded stepping forward. Jace put his hand up to block him, "Hold on split-chin, I take command of this team."

Azo stared Jace in the eye as if expecting a challenge, but after getting a look from Ellie backed down, "Very well human, what is your plan?"

"Okay, splitting up won't work as we won't stand a chance going up against the Brutes one on one," He bent down and began making outlines on the dust on the floor.

"What's that boss?" Carmines inquired. Jace looked up after finishing his drawing, "A little diagram."

"We are here," he said pointing to a large x, he traced his finger down the makeshift hall and pointed to what looked like stairs, "These stairs here are the area where the brutes should come up, we spread out and we catch them in a crossfire, we might be able to come out on top with this one."

Looking up Jace asked, "Any questions?"

Carmines raised his hand, "Um, how do you know it's a lot of brutes and not like a scout like this guy?" he indicated to the dead Stalker Brute. It was Azo who answered for him, "Because we always scout out a area first before sending in a hunter killer team."

Carmines was about to ask how he knew it was a hunter killer team, when a loud roar interrupted him. "Time to go," Jace said taking off down the hall. As he ran past her, Ellie noticed that Jace was slightly limping and his armor was quite battered with alien blood, a few plasma burns coated the outer shell, part of a drone wind on his chest plate and several badly scratched components. She looked over at Carmines armor and saw he had some substantial damage to it as well.

_What the hell have these two been through,_ she asked herself as she took of after the others.

Lepidus growled under his breath as he got up off of the Brute major Bracktanus. The idiot had set off one of the humans mines at the bottom of the stair case and would've been killed had it not been for Lepidus' quick intervention. The older Jiralhanae had tackled the younger one out of the way just as the mine went off.

"Thank you Captain, you saved my life," Bracktanus praised. Lepidus scoffed, "I would not have even moved a finger in your direction had I not needed my team to full fighting force, even so your foolish actions have more then likely alerted the humans to our presence."

"I am truly sorry sir," Bracktanus apologized.

"As long as you show your capableness in battle you shall be forgiven." Bracktanus straightened up a little at the thought, "I will Captain."

With that Bracktanus moved cautiously up the stairs to the top floor. Lepidus looked at the other eight Jiralhanae behind him; they were all either of Ultra rank or Captain rank; Bracktanus was of the lowest rank. Lepidus led them. The Brute looked at his Golden armor to make sure it hadn't been damaged in the explosion. He had been promoted after being the only survivor of his last mission. He was also a very capable fighter and had been promoted as such.

He smiled and led the others up the stairs after Bracktanus.

Jace set up on the far right behind a trophy case. Inside multiple trophies of the schools academic programs reigned supreme. Carmine slid to a halt behind an overturned desk that appeared to be on the list to being thrown out. The elite stepped up and took a crouching position in the center of the hall.

Jace sighed, "What the hell, Elite, your just going to stand there in the open?"

Azo didn't even look at Jace when he answered, "You human shall see the might of Covenant technology," with that he began to become transparent until he was literally invisible. He heard Carmine say, "cool" and heard Ellie giggle.

He shook his head and turned his attention to Ellie, "Ellie get back a little and cover our rears." Ellie knew when she was being left out, "Aw come on Jace."

"I don't want to hear it," Jace barked, "You're our medic and if you get hit, the rest of us are as good as screwed." Ellie got up and made her way back a few yards mumbling under her breath, Jace could've sworn he heard her mutter "Dickhead."

Jace smiled and turned his attention back to the stairs, _I'll make it up to her later_. He sighted through the optic of his BR. He was getting low on ammo and would have to make sure every shot counted.

It was a good two minutes of suspense before the first Brute reared its ugly head up the stairs. "Holds your fire," Jace muttered over the COM, "Wait for the rest to come." They waited and to everyone's surprise nine more brutes joined the first. They all wore an assortment of different power armor, but he assumed that the big bastard in the golden armor was their leader.

He waited for the final Brute to step up onto the landing before he gave the order to fire. As one, Jace, Carmine and Azo fired their weapons. Jace caught the lead Brute in the head, knocking its helmet off. Azo quickly followed through hand put a burst from his carbine right through hits unprotected head. The brute fell like a rock backwards. Carmine fired his MA5C in short controlled burst peppering the brutes with sustained fire, but the shots just pinged off of the brutes' superior shields. The brutes returned fire, spikes and plasma seared through the air almost taking Jace's head off. He ducked down behind the trophy case. Azo moved quickly, ducking and rolling avoiding plasma and spikes and returning fire. The brutes ducked into the nearby classrooms for cover.

Lepidus dipped into the classroom to the left with two other brutes. One of them was the Ultra Dianthus. The Jiralhanae Ultra allowed his red plasma rifle to cool down as he talked, "Sir we lost Bracktanus and the humans and that Elite got us caught in a crossfire."

Lepidus simply smiled, "Bracktanus was a weak fool and the humans may have us pinned but it is them who are trapped." Dianthus didn't get it but could care less all he wanted to do was kill the humans. He got up and fired blindly around the corner.

Carmine returned fire as a brute blind fired around the corner. He ducked down behind his desk and pulled out a grenade. He pulled the pin and primed it. He peered over the table and then let the grenade fly. It traveled up and over and into the classroom on the right. It detonated and Carmine heard roars of agony, but the fire still continued from the room and now was coming from another classroom on the left. "Damn!" he yelled to no one in particular.

Ellie ducked as a spike flew over her. She had returned some fire but at this distance her M7S was noting but a nuisance to the large brutes. She had just kept to herself and out of the way.

She turned around when she got a feeling something was watching her. At first she saw nothing, but then noticed a peculiar disturbance in the air in front of her. At first glance she thought it was a Elite but its outline was to bulky to be one. She raised her SMG and fired when she realized what it was.

As the 5x23mm M443 Caseless Full Metal Jacket rounds peppered the figure, the beast active camo fizzled and popped and failed revealing another brute stalker. Its mouth in a nasty snare with drool coming out. It growled and fired the plasma rifle in its hand. Ellie ducked down and rolled out of the way behind an open door.

She returned fire; two more stalkers dematerialized and added their fire to the mix. Ellie ducked back around and keyed her COM, "Jace we got a problem, Brute Stalkers behind us."

Jace risked a quick glance around and saw that a trio of black armored Brute stalkers had Ellie pinned. He fired a quick burst down the hall only grazing the side of one of the camo brutes. The brute responded by firing its spiker down the hall into the glass of the trophy case causing Jace to duck.

"Shit!" he said to himself. First they had to deal with the ten brutes that came up the stairs now freaking three more ambush them from behind. They were truly and in all sense of the word fucked.

The door across the hall suddenly swung open and a trio of grunts in red armor appeared. Jace could only watch in amazement as one of the grunts threw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail at the three stalker brutes. The bottle landed in front of the brutes and exploded in flames effectively cutting them off from Ellie. The grunt did likewise in the direction of the other brutes, with similar results.

"This way O' mighty one," one of the grunts squeaked motioning for Azo to follow him and his comrades through the door from whence they came.

Azo nodded and called to Ellie, "Ellie follow them I'll cover you." Ellie nodded and got up and ran after the grunts. Azo turned to Jace, "Go human." Jace needed no second bidding, he got up and sprinted after Ellie, taking a potshot from his rifle through the flames and catching a Stalker in the face.

Azo wheeled around and began firing at the stalkers. Carmine back pedaled firing short burst from his MA5C. Jace turned and called to the rookie, "Carmine lets go before you get overrun!"

Carmine continued firing as he shouted back, "I got your back Jace, go I'll cover you." Jace yelled for Carmine to follow again but it fell on deaf ears. The young trooper ducked as a spiker flew over his head followed by a burst of plasma.

"Enough covering," he told himself, "time to go." He turned around to leave, but before he could take a step he was impacted in the back by a spike. It felt like some one hit him with a sledgehammer. With a breathless gasp he keeled over forward, his weapon dropping by his side.

Azo saw this and ran over to him; firing through the flames at the other brutes. He picked up an unconscious Carmine and heaved him onto his shoulders. He fired one handed and backed through the door from whence the grunts came. It was an abandoned classroom with a hole leading outside on the far side.

"Carmine!" Jace shouted, he and Ellie ran over and supported the rookie between their arms. Azo turned around and fired out into the hall. Jace and Ellie followed the grunts outside through the hole. It appeared part of the school fell causing a rubble pile to be a convenient way out of the hole. The procession ran outside and was hit with a powerful downpour. It appeared after Ellie and Azo had entered the school a torrential rain had come in.

High winds and rain drops like bullets hit the group as they ran pass deserted cars and abandoned homes. "You okay Carmine?" Jace asked about two minutes later. "Does it look like I'm okay!" Carmine grunted in agony, "This spike hurts like a sun of a bitch!"

Ellie called to the three grunts in front of them, "Hey stop you guys, we need to tend to our guy here." One of the grunts, obviously their leader due to the red combat harness indicating major, turned and squealed, "No no we can't stop, big brutes follow us."

Azo appeared next to the group, "It is okay, the brutes are held at bay for now, and they are not going to be able to track us in this storm." The grunt not being one to disobey its seniors simply shrugged and waited idle by with its two comrades.

Ellie and Jace carried Carmine over to an overhang to get him out of the rain temporarily and placed him down as gently as possible on his stomach.

"Alright," Ellie she said looking at his back, "The spike passed through your rucksack and penetrated your lower back; I am going to have to remove your rucksack." She carefully unstrapped the straps that held the rucksack to his armor and slowly moved it away from his back to reveal a grayish brownish spike protruding from Carmines lower left back.

"Hmm seems like it just missed your kidneys," she looked at Jace, "I'm going to remove it but I'm going to need you to put pressure on the wound as soon as I pull it out." Jacen nodded.

Ellie reached into her rucksack and pulled out a canister of biofoam, "Last bottle," she said shaking the canister. She placed the biofoam on the ground a reached for the spike in Carmines back. "Alright Carmine I'm going to pull the spike out of you," she said in as gently of a tone as she could muster, "are you ready?" Carmine nodded feebly.

With a soft touch she grabbed hold of the midsection of the spike and heaved. It came free with a wet sound. Carmine let out of scream of agony and Jace quickly placed his hands over the wound. Blood partially seeped through his fingers and mixed with the rain water already present there.

"Alright move your hand," Ellie ordered, Jace complied and she quickly wiped away the excess blood and placed the muzzle of the tube into the wound and sprayed. A burning sensation hit the rookie before he breathed a sigh of relief.

Azo watched the whole procedure and remembered when Ellie had applied the foam to his leg wound; which had already healed enough. It had been only a few days ago but it felt like an eternity ago.

"Better?" Jace inquired. "Much."

"Can you stand?" Ellie wondered. Carmine nodded and proceeded to stand albeit groggily but he got his balance soon after. "Where is my MA5C? He asked looking around at the others weapons.

Azo was the one who answered, "You dropped it when you got hit human." Carmine swore under his breath and proceeded to pull out his M6, "At least I got this." Jace nodded and turned to Azo, "We have to get out of this storm."

The grunt major pulled on Azo's leg and pointed in the distance, "Sir our hideout is not far from here." Azo nodded and said, "Then lead the way." With that they moved out, as they were going Jace heard Carmine say, "I don't know what's worst, getting hit in the back or freezing my ass off in this monsoon." Jace smiled and shook his head, _I'm glad the rookie is alright_."

Lepidus was angry; he and his pack had the humans and the Sangheili on the ropes. Plus the inclusion of Abacus and his two stalkers had cornered the humans like vermin on a ship. Had it not been for the sudden arrival of those three Unggoy they would of surely prevailed. But at last that wasn't the case.

He looked down at the charred body of Bracktanus. When one of the Unggoy threw a incendiary grenade at his group, it had caught Bracktanus right in the chest and exploded consuming the brute in flames. He writhed around on the ground for a good minute before he died of his wounds. Lepidus's fur smelled of his charred flesh' he had been trying to help the brute the whole time, but the flames wouldn't die. And now the humans and Sangheili escaped.

After five minutes the flames finally subsided and Abacus and the other stalker walked over. "Accursed Unggoy, we almost got the human and the Sangheili." Lepidus glared at the stalker, "Had you waited a little longer and gotten closer to the humans you could of killed them all in a swift move."

"We tried," Abacus retorted, "But one of the humans spotted us and fired on us forcing us to engage."

Lepidus looked around at the remaining brutes; including the stalkers he had ten under his command. He swaggered over to the doors the enemy combatants had escaped through and proceeded into the room. A giant hole had formed on the other side. He walked up to it and stared out into the rain. A crack of lightning illuminated the sky giving him a temporarily view of the dark city before it disappeared in darkness.

The other brutes came up next to their leader. Abacus took up position next to Lepidus, who in turn said, "I want you and your other stalker to track the humans."

A evil grin crossed Abacus' face, "It'll be done." With that he and the other brute stalker proceeded out into the storm on the trail of the humans.

The grunts hideout was little more then a abandoned gas station. On going inside they spotted five other grunts, some were injured and some weren't but none looked as healthy as the three grunts that accompanied them.

"What is this place Unggoy?" Azo asked looking around at everything. It seems the grunts had made themselves quite at home. Makeshift beds had been made out of tires from out back, and a huge assortment of candy, chips and other goodies lay all over the place.

"It is our home," one of the other grunts said, "At least for now." The grunt bent down wearily and picked up a bag of chips, "snack?" Azo shook his head, but Carmines wasted no time in snatching up the bag and digging in.

Azo began to talk to the brutes in a hushed tone so that the others couldn't hear. The three humans were left in the dark. "What do you think they are talking about?" Jace asked. Carmine was too busy eating to respond so Ellie did, "I don't know Covenant business, why worry about it Jace? They are on our side."

Jace didn't like it though. He felt that Azo was just waiting to upstage him and take command, and now with this little group of grunts under his command he was just in line to do that. And he was positive that Azo had a _thing_ for Ellie. He shook the thought off, _Ellie would never like an alien squid head… would she?_

He shook that thought off too and looked down at his fingerless gloves. They were crimson with the dried blood of Carmine. Add that to the damage other splashes of blood on his armor he must've looked like shit. He hoped Ellie didn't mind. He was just incredibly happy that she was okay and he was reunited with her.

He looked around and saw that Azo was still talking to the grunts and Carmine was too busy eating to notice anything so he decided he would talk to Ellie alone.

"Come with me," he commanded grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her into an aisle out of view of the others. "What is it?" Ellie asked confused. Jace removed his helmet and she followed suit; her blonde hair covering part of her eyes.

_Ugh how to start this, _Jace thought, "Well you see ever since training we have always been together right?" She nodded in agreement, "yea we have always been with one another."

Jace continued, "Well I sort of always thought you were the coolest girl I ever knew, and trust me I knew quite a few girls." Ellie raised an eyebrow, "sure you did?" Jace laughed nervously as he continued, "I just wanted to let you know I think your pretty cute and I sort of kind of … um you know… love you."

She was just quiet and didn't say anything. _Crap, _he thought, _I just screwed up a really good friendship and now it's going to be really awkward and…_ Ellie suddenly kissed. And not one of those quick kisses, this was full out on the lips, make out time kissing. It lasted a good thirty seconds before she let go and said, "I love you too." Jace was surprised, but didn't have anytime to capitalize on it as Carmine came around the corner. With a huge smirk on his face he said, "Hate to break up the little make out session, but Azo is done talking to the grunts and wants to have a word with you two."

"Um yea, I'll be there shortly," Ellie said taking up her helmet and proceeding back towards the others. As Jace went to follow, Carmine looked at him with a grin, "Jeez you two were trying to get it on _here _of all places, I would've thought that she would want her first time to be special, not in some old fucked up gas station surrounded by Covenant in the middle of a war zone."

"Go to hell," Jace replied as he and the rookie caught up to the others.

Azo turned towards the approaching ODST and motioned for them to come over. He pointed to the grunt major and said, "this is Babble, he and his comrades escaped the clutches of the brutes when they turned on us."

"We always loyal to the Sangheili," Babble said, making an awkward salute, "Brutes big bullies anyways."

Azo went on, "He and his comrades have been waiting it out here for a while now, going out only to get supplies and other things."

"You lucky my brother Kibble heard your fighting in the school," Babble went on, "He alerted the rest us and we rescue you." The grunt named Kibble sat with the others; upon hearing his name he turned around and nodded. Ellie returned the nod and thanked him.

"He said that he can get you back to human lines." Jace became intrigued at that notion.

"Yes we can get you back to your brethren, the humans patrol not to far away from here, we spot a few of them a day ago, but we too scared to get close."

"Can you take us there now?" Jace inquired. Babble shook his head, "Not in this storm we shall wait till the morning when the storm passes." _Fair enough,_ thought Jace. "Until then make yourselves at home," Babble said motioning to any open space not occupied by an Unggoy or trash.

Jace took a nice little corner in the far back of the out of view of the others. He set his helmet next to him and closed his eyes to get some shut eye. He felt something brush up against him and opened his eyes instantly. It was Ellie she had leaned against him and was snoring on his shoulder. Instead of shrugging her off he rested her head onto his lap and made sure she was comfortable. After that he rested his head against the wall and snoozed of in seconds.

On the other side of the gas station, Azo rested himself, but not before he caught sight of Ellie and the other human sleeping together. On the inside he felt a slight pain, he was unsure what it was but it felt bad.

Little did the Elite know that he just experienced heart break.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (UNSC Echo Base), Earth, Sol System**

The rain continued all throughout the night. Hurricane force winds rattled every window in every building within the city. It came down so hard that some of the sewers and tunnels underneath the streets began to overflow. Sewage and dirt spewed out into the street making much of the air stink of the unwanted parts of human life. The water came up at least two feet in some parts of the city making it almost impossible for anyone to tread through the streets though in any sane persons mind why would they.

Despite the horrible weather conditions against them, UNSC soldiers along with their newly found Elite and Grunt allies battled on through the water against the Covenant Loyalist. It was horrible fighting. Dead bodies were picked up by the current and floated down the street for hundreds of yards before they were stopped by either a car or some other obstruction. The water ran red with blood in some places.

The battle was so random at some points. Multiple times a squad of marines would simply go into a building to get out of the storm and find that a squad of brutes, jackals or grunts already occupied said building with the same idea. The two sides would battle it out to death and sometimes there would be no winner.

The only good thing that came out of the rain was that much of the fires throughout the city were extinguished. Though a lot still burned fueled by an inextinguishable gas. Meteorologist said that New York hadn't been hit with something so powerful in nearly three years. Yes the storm was one helluva storm some would say. And the rain still gushed down all the way till the blaring trumpets of Reveille could be heard within the confines of UNSC Echo Base.

Ricky Li was in more then a grumpy mood. The ODST sniper had awoken an hour before Reveille, the sun hadn't even risen yet, as he had a briefing with the Colonel and that _Elite _leader. He hated Elites and he made little to no attempt to convey this to his comrades. He made his way through the storm cursing every god he could think of for putting him in this position. He made it through the rain to the mess hall for some breakfast.

He got his breakfast, which consisted of a platter of eggs, sausage and pancakes, and made his way to an empty table. He dug into his meal, but it wasn't long before two marines joined them.

He gave a nod as they sat down near him, but not necessarily next to him. They began to eat and have a conversation in a hushed tone. Ricky could care less what they were saying and continued to gouge down on his pancakes. It was only when one of the leather necks glanced his way and stared a hole through his head did he stop eating and turn to the man.

The marine had scruffy red hair and blue eyes, a scar ran along his cheek to the bottom of his jaw. "Can I help you?" He demanded returning the stare.

The marine looked Li up and down and smiled, "Nothing, say you're an ODST right?" _That was a dumb question, _He thought, _what tipped him off the helmet or the words ODST across my armor? _

"Yeah, I'm a Helljumper," Li replied, "What of it?"

The red head put his hands up in mock surrender, "nothing, just think you guys are doing one helluva job, been the driving force behind this whole godforsaken operation."

_This is my type of guy. _"Yeah I guess you can say that," he boasted swallowing a mouthful of food.

"Shame that you guys are going to be out shunned by the Elites," The red head said taking another bite of his food. His buddy next to him snickered. Ricky stopped eating and eyed the man, "What are you saying?"

"Exactly what I said," the marine said, "With the Elites as our allies now we are definitely going to win now."

"Humph, and once we are done with the brutes who says they aren't going to turn on us."

The red head smiled, "That's where your wrong, that Elite Field Marshall said as soon as the brutes are pushed back far enough they are going to attempt to steal one their ships and go back to where ever they come from."

"That's a load of bull," Stated Ricky, "And they haven't done that much anyways."

"Are you kidding me?" the marine laughed, "Didn't you hear about how those SpecOps Elites took on that Scarab and disabled it. a whole freaking company of marines couldn't even bring that monstrosity down."

"Whatever!" shouted Ricky; attracting the attention of a few of the other people present in the mess hall. The Chinese ODST got up and stormed out through the double doors.

The rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to rise giving a purple hue to the sky. Visibility was low but as he began to walk he noticed it became significantly lighter. Other marines were beginning to come out of their barracks.

_Lucky SOB's, _Ricky thought as he placed his helmet atop his head and turned the safety off of his M6. On base, unless on guard duty or on a mission, it was a rule that all fire arms except pistols be either kept in the barracks or in the armory. It was a good rule unless the base got attacked and what was the chance of that happening.

Ricky noticed a group of marines crowding around a spot looking at the ground. They looked puzzled and were talking amongst themselves. "Hey what's going on?" Ricky shouted when he was about 20 feet away and approaching.

One of the marines turned back to him and responded, "We don't really know, but there's this hole here in the ground and it's growing slowly by the minute."

"A hole," Ricky repeated, "What the hell is a hol…." The ground exploded out from under the group of marines' feet sending them flying in the air. Ricky was thrown at least 25 feet back and landed with a thump; His helmet landing a couple feet a way from him.

His vision was filled with stars and bright light and he heard a raspy noise which he realized was his own haggard breathing. He propped himself up on his elbows; his head hurt, he feared he had a concussion, and stared at the hole. It was _a lot_ bigger now. And grunts, jackals and brutes were pouring out like they were demons coming form hell.

Ricky could only sit and watch in silent horror as one of the marines; the one he had talked to, struggled to rise only to have a huge foot pin it back down. The marines looked up with terrified eyes as the brute minor pinning him raised its plasma rifle and fired a round into his face.

The marines that were closest to the hole were quickly swarmed by the covenant. Many of them didn't even get to raise their weapons in defense. Ricky groggily grabbed his helmet and placed it atop his head. He felt a lot better being inside the titanium helmet; it was like a second skin to him.

He turned back to the Covenant and aimed his M6 at the nearest grunt. With a well placed head shot he hit the grunt, causing it to fall back into the hole. A brute noticed this and made its way over to Ricky. He fired shot after shot from his pistol into the alien but to no avail. The brute raised its spiker to stab the ODST but suddenly changed its glaze from him to something behind him.

Before it could react it was hit in the chest by a burst of fire from multiple rifles. He felt a hand on his shoulders and turned to see Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, Lombardi and a few other ODST's backing them up. From all over marines were coming to join the fray; firing their rifles and shotguns at the pressing Covenant.

The Covenant in return met the enemy head on. There was still many more coming out of the hole. Plasma, spikes and lead filled the air. If one was to throw a coin into the air it would come back either with a hole in it, scorched or it wouldn't come back down at all.

Ricky got to his knees and began taking careful aim with his pistol. Being a sniper he had good aim with most weapons. He downed to grunts and a jackal, leaving the bigger brutes to the more heavily armed soldiers.

"Where the hell did they come from?" asked Lombardi dodging a overcharged plasma shot and returning fire at his assailant.

"Where the hell do you think?" Ricky retorted venomously indicating to the hole. The ODST group backpedaled to more suitable cover of a ship container. More and more Covenant came out of the hole; it was almost like an endless flood. Ricky fired putting another grunt in the hole, but was confused when the grunt was thrown back out of the hole.

He nearly shit his pants when a Brute Chieftain armed with a giant hammer came out of the hole with a primeval roar. "Aw shit," Emiliene shrieked. The Chieftain charged forward straight into the human lines. Countless numbers of marines fired on it but to no avail.

Ceretus raised his hammer and ended the life of an unfortunate private. He twirled around hitting two more humans into oblivion. He smiled as another human attempted to run away only to trip. "Pitiful," he said before bringing the blade side of his hammer down on the poor woman. Her bloodcurdling screams nearly deafening him.

He looked around him; his brute brethren had followed him forward and closed the gap greatly between them and the humans. Now they were in close quarters just like he liked it. His attention turned to a group of human warriors wearing black armor and their faces covered by visors. _They would make good kills_, the Chieftain thought making his way over to them. He pushed a human out of his way, leaving him to his horde, and continued towards the soldiers.

"Crap he's coming right at us!" shouted an ODST. All the troopers turned their gun fire on the Chieftain but his shields were just too damn strong.

They humans had fought courageously, but still it wasn't enough. The enemy advanced with psychotic determination, clambering over the heaped piles of their fallen comrades as they flung themselves at the human defenses. Some of the fanatics fell to the ground, before rising to their feet once more, heedless of their missing limbs and weeping wounds. Ricky fired, reloaded, and fired again. Within a matter of moments, they were going to be overrun.

It was only a matter of time.

"Now, Brothers."

Cur, the remaining Sangheili and Unggoy on the base, charged forward, hurrying forward to reinforce the battered UNSC line. Cur had quickly rallied his troops when he heard the first explosion, much to the dismay of Colonel Winters. To differentiate themselves from the enemy, the Separatist Grunts had daubed themselves head-to-toe in a sloppy coat of olive-green paint, like their marine allies. Only the specialist Unggoy assigned to Tano had retained their original coloration, as a mark of pride, rather than anything else. Only the best became Spec Ops. Methane supplies were dwindling, and many Unggoy stumbled groggily as they moved to follow their Sangheili masters. Their time was running out.

"The Humans have done well, but let us show them what it is to be a warrior!" Cur said igniting his energy sword, "now charge!"

Never have any of the humans witnessed fighting like what they were seeing now. A blizzard of plasma grenades left their hands, hissing down upon the Jiralhanae vanguard. The Brutes roared in pain as the grenades bonded with their flesh and exploded. Loyalist Unggoy was flicked into the air, their own payloads of grenades exploding in a heated chain reaction as their methane tanks erupted. Casualties were atrocious.

The two sides clashed like two waves coming together. All semblance of order was lost as it came down to savage hand to hand. The defenders fought tooth and nail to deny them - in some cases quite literally.

The ODST simply stood out of the way, only firing when they had a clear line of sight on the enemy. Carter heard a weird warping noise and turned to see two big hunters coming right at them. But the hunters were coming from behind and he instantly realized they were on his side. The twin Hunters cut a swathe through the enemy, their assault cannons incinerating and their jagged metal shields swiping. Enemy plasma fire bounced harmlessly off their armored hides like raindrops off a tank. The loyalist Grunts yelped at the sight of the two behemoths who had just joined the fray. With a wailing cry of terror, many broke and fled, colliding with the troops rushing forward behind them. They all fell in a tangled heap, moments before they too were eradicated by Separatist guns. The two hunters actually seemed to be laughing as they killed. _This can't get any weirder._

Tano was ruthless, he dodged a brutes wrist blades and cut of said brutes arm in return. The brute howled in agony clutching its stump. Tano took it out of its misery with a stab through the chest. Another brute swung at the SpecOps Elite, but Tano was like water as he ducked under the Jiralhanaes' clumsy swing, repaying the Brute in kind with a swift upper cut. The brute keeled over unconscious.

Tano turned and noticed Yapyap fighting next to him; the grunt was breathing heavily and moving slowly. He looked up at his commander and their eyes met. Tano nodded, Yapyap knowing what must be done took out two plasma grenades ignited them and with a final battle cry, "For Balaho!" he jumped into a crowd of jackals using their shields to create a phalanx. The jackals let out a surprised yelp before they were incinerated in the fiery explosion.

All along the line multiple Unggoy followed suite throwing themselves away in a massive banzai charge. They knew with their methane supplies low it was only a matter of time anyway.

Tano couldn't help but smile, he was so proud of them. Despite them being so low they proved to be almost as honorable as Sangheili.

Ceretus hadn't expected the Separatist too hit them that hard, but the Jiralhanae Chieftain fought on. He made short work of a minor Sangheili and easily dispatched of a group of Unggoy. He saw the ceremonious armor of a Sangheili Field Marshall and began to bash his way through.

Cur swept his sword in a flourishing figure of eight pattern, dismantling a charging Jiralhanae above the knees. The Elite leader dodged a spike round and stabbed at the culprit. He made eye contact with Tano for a split second before the SpecOps Elite yelled, "Get down!"

Cur did as instructed and not a moment too soon. He felt the Hammer swing over his head missing the tip by mere inches. He stood back up right to come up against a large Jiralhanae Chieftain. Cur flared his mandibles and charged the brute. The two clashed in an epic duel, Unggoy fled trying to get out of hitting range.

Ceretus swung but came up with nothing but air, Cur stabbed but came out with similar results. The two parried and attacked each other, oblivious to the battle around them. Ceretus swung downward, knocking Cur of balance but the Elite quickly regained his balance before the Brute could capitalize.

The Ceretus made his fatal error.

He swung low this time, trying to knock the elite of his feet. But Cur anticipated this and jumped and landed with a thud on the tip of the hammer. Ceretus raised his hammer to bring the Elite close for a punch and Cur let him. But as Ceretus reeled back for the punch he realized Cur was faster. With a powerful thrust the Elite beheaded the Jiralhanae Chieftain.

His head fell to the floor and his body followed. The head rolled to the feet of another brute who looked up from pummeling a human to see his Chieftain's headless body. "The chieftain is dead," he roared.

Other Loyalist looked over and the battle literally stopped for a few seconds. And then without warning the entire Loyalist army began to fall back. They retreated back down into the hole from whence they came, the UNSC and Separatist right on their heels. When the last grunt retreated back into the hole, a cheer went up from the victors.

After a ferocious hour of fighting, the battle of Echo Base had been won.

**Author's Note:**** I hope you guys liked that one, I might not be writing as much as I usually do as I might be starting a new Halo fic in the near Future. I will still continue writing this one and the other at the same time. Please check out my other fic when it comes out and please review that one and this one. **


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (UNSC Echo Base), Earth, Sol System**

Ricky tapped his foot impatiently against the floor as he waited for the doctor to return with his diagnosis. After the battle he had headed over to the nearby medical center to check to see if he had a concussion. But he had to wait before he was finally served; other more serious injuries were tended to first, especially patients marked with the red X for triage. It was an hour before he was finally served.

Compared to some of the other marines in here he wasn't too bad off. Some were suffering from multiple plasma burns and some had spikes dug into their body. Li could here their screams of agony all the way from out in the main area.

"Where is this damn doctor?" he said tapping his foot impatiently, _the faster I get out of here the better._

The door to the back room swung open and out came Battalion Surgeon First Lieutenant Drake strolled out holding a data pad in his hand. "Private First Class Li?"

Ricky nodded, "Yeah that's me."

Drake looked down at the data pad in his hand then said, "You don't appear to have a concussion just a hard bump on the head. On further observation we noticed you have quite a few bruises throughout your body and your adrenaline levels are peaking quite high."

"Adrenaline has been all I have been running on for these last couple days," admitted Li.

"Looks like you Helljumpers have been through quite a lot?"

Ricky rolled his eyes, "Tell me about it."

Drake chuckled and then continued, "Well none of your injuries are that serious, and not enough to get you out of combat anytime soon. Your luck isn't that good."

Ricky smiled and adorned his helmet, "Wasn't looking to get out of the shit anytime soon LT." He made sure his range finder was on right then proceeded out of the medical center.

The morning sun's rays nearly blinded him as he stepped through the door; he polarized his visor to compensate. He made his way out pass the courtyard; the carnage of the battle still fresh on the scene. Most of the Loyalist corpses had been gathered up and tossed into the hole they so happily digged. The bodies clogged up the hole and piled up high as they grew more and more in number. There were still a few bodies left here and there and they were being tended to.

Most of the marine bodies had been picked up and placed in black body bags. The dead Unggoy however had to be placed in a mass grave near the far side of the base. There were just too many dead to bury them all properly. The Sangheili had held a service to honor their fallen lesser comrades.

Colonel Winters took another whiff of his Sweet William Cigar; next to him Cur studied the TAC map, watching the movements of the little icons on the holo table.

The two commanders were discussing troop movements when they heard a distant explosion from somewhere on the base. Winters had radioed in to his subordinates and learned the Loyalist were attacking the base. Cur seemed to change from the civilized Elite he had been when he got here to the ruthless killer that Elites were known for. He stormed out of the Elephant Command Center against Winters wishes and went off to battle.

Winters had hears that the Field Marshall had actually turned the battle but he still scolded Cur for leaving, "What if you had been killed, I wouldn't be able to lead both your troops and mine."

Cur had responded with one statement, "You may hide in your armored command center while your soldiers die, but while you command from the rear, I command from the front."

The statement had hit home on Winters and the two commanders had not talked to each other since, only the arrival of ODST Captain Van Zandt did the tension cease a little.

"Sir you called for me?" Van Zandt said saluting. Winters returned the salute and pointed to the TAC map, "Wanted to discuss troop movements with you."

Cur scooted over to allow Van Zandt room to see. The Captain loomed over the tables and observed. It seems they had made a lot of progress in the last couple days. The green showing it was UNSC turf went all the way up to midtown. The rest north however was still red.

"We have been doing some work I see" Van Zandt remarked. Winters nodded and responded, "Yea we have, but it is time we strive to end this battle."

He pointed to a large open space that looked as if it was a forest, "This here is central park, The Loyalist have used this as a LZ to drop off more troops and supplies, until we control this LZ I'm afraid that the covenant will keep coming."

"Also," added Cur, "If I my soldiers and I are able to acquire one their ships we will be able to get back to our own world."

Van Zandt nodded, "How long will this take to get to Central Park?" Winters was the one to answer, "It will take at least another week at least, unless we take some drastic measures, I have dispatched Easy Company to take a apartment complex in upper midtown, they will spearhead the new attack we have planned code name Operation _Tip of the Spear_, if Easy is able to gain a foothold we will be able to push up and fill in the gaps."

Van Zandt thought about it, _Easy Company will have their work cut out for them, they are going pretty far into enemy lines and they have to hold out long enough without support,_ right now he didn't envy them.

He heard the door to the command center slide open and Winters said, "Aw your sniper is finally here." He looked up to spot Li strolling in. the Chinese ODST snapped a crisp salute, "Private First Class Li reporting for duty as ordered sir!"

Winters returned the salute and said, "At ease PFC Li and remove your bucket." Ricky did as ordered and placed his helmet on the table.

"I'm going to cut straight to the chase Private," Winters flat out said, "Your records as a sniper are phenomenal, probably the best in the city right now, and we need that right now." Ricky raised an eyebrow intrigued.

Winters pointed to a spot on the holo table in the contested area of the city, "This right here is the Traxus factory district. It is at least five solid city blocks of nothing but factory buildings and warehouses," Winters took a breath before continuing, "right now fighting in this area is great and we are losing a lot of men and women."

"Oh I see you want me to soften up the brutes defenses so the others can attack in full?" Li interrupted; getting a stern look from Van Zandt.

Winters didn't seem to mind and answered in full, "Not exactly, are forces are complaining of a sniper that is slowly taking them out, now normally one jackal sniper wouldn't be all that difficult for our forces to take out, but in this case the sniper is _really_ good." Ricky seemed more intrigued at another sniper being able to compete with him.

Cur was the next one to speak, "His name is Zhar Man Slayer, he is one of the best snipers within the Kig-Yar Marksmen legions, he is feared even by us Sangheili for his abilities with a beam rifle."

Ricky smiled, "Sounds like a challenge." Van Zandt shook his head, "Don't get to cocky Helljumper, if this sniper is as good as he is made out to be you got a lot on your plate right now."

"You will head to the Factory District and defeat this sniper; you shall get a guide to get you there, someone who knows all the nooks and crannies of Manhattan."

Ricky's eyebrow rose yet again, "And who might this be?"

"Me," Ricky looked over Winters shoulder to see a young woman, probably no older then 25. He had thought she was just another technician at first glance. She was about 5'7 with jet black hair. She had a tough persona going about her but she was still pretty cute. She wore what appeared to be a Kevlar vest and carried a SRH199; it was the light weight hunting rifle version of the sniper Ricky usually used. It didn't pack as much as a punch but it allowed for much easier travel. With its jet black finish and long barrel the weapon was a nice piece of work.

"Li meet Isabella Ramirez," Winters said motioning to the woman, "She is a NYPD SWAT sniper, she knows the city inside and out."

"New York resident, born and raised," Isabella said with a slight Hispanic accent.

"Nice piece," Ricky said remarking to her sniper. Isabella smiled, "yup I took off the regular scope and put in a 4x scope and I refurbished the barrel to make it swifter."

"Hhmm I like a lot," Ricky said with a grin, "So she's my spotter eh?"

Winters made eye contact Isabella before he responded, "Um no your spotter should be here shortly." The sound of the door opening again alerted Ricky to the coming of another person. Ricky turned around and his face turned into a frown.

Standing before him was a red armored Elite, he was very muscular for an Elite and had a sense of dominance about him, but Ricky didn't care, he was an Elite and he hated them.

"Welcome Fal' Cavamee," Field Marshall Cur said raising a fist to his chest, Fal' mirrored the gesture and thanked the ship master.

Ricky noticed the Type-50 Sniper Rifle system or Beam Rifle strapped to his back. The Beam rifle is a battery-powered directed-energy weapon that fires ionized particles at its targets, instead of accelerating small projectiles. The weapon is nearly silent, negligible muzzle signature, weighs considerably less than its UNSC analog and inflicts wounds akin to the 14.5mm SRS 99 AM — and is considered by all assessments to be a force multiplication.

He also knew that the rifle was usually preferred by snipers. That's when nit suddenly hit him. He put his hands up in mock surrender, "No, uh-uh not doing it, there's no way I'm working with an Elite as my spotter."

"PFC Li you will do as ordered and you will carry out this mission," Captain Van Zandt barked.

"No way he is an _Elite,_" he protested. "I do not fancy working with you that much either human," Fal admitted crossing his arms.

"Fal you shall work with this human and you are going to like it," Cur said calmly.

"Yes Field Marshall," he reluctantly replied.

Winters had seen enough, "PFC Li, if you don't do this, I will have u court marshaled for disobedience." Ricky knew this was getting serious and it was against every fiber in his being but he had to do it.

"Fine," he said in utter defeat, "I'll work with him."

"Thought you would," Winters said, he walked over to Li and patted him on the back, "I know it's hard, I heard what happened to your squad mate back on Nexus, but I need you to focus on this one, that sniper must be taken out or we risk our entire operation being slown down."

Ricky simply nodded. Winters smiled and stepped back to address the whole group, "Alright officer Ramirez, Major Domo Fal' Cavamee and Private First Class Li, your mission to neutralize the enemy sniper, this so called "Man Slayer" and show him how real snipers get it done!"

"Yeah!"

"It shall be done."

"Oraaahh!" Ricky shouted feeling slightly invigorated. Winters smiled, "You shall find your weapons and equipment in the armory and transport waiting for you at the motor pool, you are dismissed."

With that the sniping trio left the Elephant and headed towards the armory and their next mission.

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Factory District), Earth, Sol System**

Zhar Man Slayer moved quickly through the roof top smoke stacks of the many factories of the area. The Kig-Yar marksman was as swift as a jungle cat and as quiet as a mouse as he hunted for his prey…and his prey was humans.

He had been tasked by the High Chieftain Dractus to slay as many humans as possible, but specifically target squad leaders and officers of the human army. And with the Separatist Sangheili joining the humans he had assumed that meant the same for them as well.

He had been chosen by the Chieftain personally and he had good reason to be. Without a doubt Zhar was one of the best Kig-Yar Marksmen in the Covenant army. Hell he wasn't even part of the army; he was a mercenary.

Being a Kig-Yar greed was like a second being to him, so of course when he learned of his talent with a beam rifle he knew he could capitalize on it and earn a profit. The Prophets had quickly hired him and sent him on countless missions for their "pacification" of the human race so that they could find the clues to how the gods went on the Great Journey so that one day they too can go on the Journey.

Zhar could care less about some prophecy mumbo jumbo crap; all he cared about was money. He also worked solely alone. Better to stay on one's own, to reap full glory for each kill. He flicked his tongue against his sharp teeth, eager to earn yet another notch to his tally.

His hand reached down and stroked the side of his rifle. Eighteen notches were present on it, a tally of how many kills he had gotten so far in this Earth Campaign. He was in search for them, though they weren't in short supply as there were countless humans within the city. He had a couple close calls when the rain came down, nearly drowned after being chased by a squad of humans.

Zhar was picking his way across the worn roof of what had once been a rusted industrial building. Judging from his navigational chart, he was somewhere within the south-Eastern boundaries of the city. All around him, Jiralhanae forces were pressed in street-to-street fighting with their Human opponents, who had began to frustrate the Loyalists through an endless series of ambushes, flanking maneuvers and counter-charges. If the High-Chieftain thought that this battle would be over in short order, then he was sorely wronged.

He leapt across a chasm between to factory buildings and landed with a thud on the other side. As he picked himself up he heard the distinctive sound of the humans' automatic weapons fire, and the sound of plasma answering in return. He smiled a toothy grin and went of in the direction of the battle.

He didn't have to go far before he came upon the scene. A group of about a dozen marines were enacting a spirited defense behind a sandbag bunker below him. A large force of Loyalist were attacking them full force. It was a admirable defense given the fact they were greatly outnumbered. He spotted their leader standing tall and proud directing his troops to keep firing. He was one of those heroic type guys, who stared in the face of danger and met it head on.

But the humans had their backed turned to Zhar and he hated those heroic types of people.

With a flick of his finger the lead humans head disappeared in a cloud of crimson mist. His limp body fell to the floor. One of the other marines saw this and began shouting and looking around. They were looking for him.

Zhar stepped back into the shadows of the smoke stacks. With their leader gone the humans began to panic, and the Jiralhanae and Unggoy forces set upon them. With yet another single shot, Zhar had solved a fire fight which had been raging on for close to an hour. This was the proper way to do war, he decided. It was neater and much better, and honestly he liked it.

He scratched another notch on the side of his beam rifle, making it nineteen now.

"I really want thirty by the end of the day," he said to himself, before snapping the scope of his rifle back up, stretching his limbs and then setting of in search of more humans.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Halo, that's all.**

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Loyalist controlled area), Earth, Sol System**

The brilliant light of the rising sun peeked through the cracks of the shutters of the window panes of the gas station. It danced along Jace's face until it hit him square in the eye. He opened his eyes and nearly was blinded. Covering his face from the sun he looked through crusty tired eyes at his surroundings.

The multitudes of grunts were just getting up as well. They yawned and stretched their limbs. Jace noticed that they were moving a little more sluggishly then they were yesterday. He was about to question it to one of them when he heard a sigh next to him.

He turned and saw Ellie waking up. Her hair was a mess but she still looked pretty damn good. She rubbed the eye crust from her eyes with a gloved hand and looked up at Jace.

"Morning beautiful," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek, _so this is really happening. _He kissed her on the forehead, "how'd ya sleep?"

She pressed down her hair as she responded, "I have had better, but it was our first night together in a long time." Jace smiled, "Yeah I know and I'm very happy about it."

Any further conversation between the two was interrupted by the arrival of a grunt, Kibble was his name. "You guys want some of this hot black water we found?"

"Hot black water, sounds appealing," Jace said in a sarcastic tone. "Oh hush up," Ellie retorted at Jace's comment, she turned to the grunt excepting his offer, "of course we will thank you."

Ellie took a sip of the liquid in the cup and smiled, "Oh its tea."

"It is?" Jace inquired grabbing for the cup. But Ellie put it out of his reach, "I thought you didn't want any?"

"I never said that," Jace said slightly raising his voice. Ellie smirked and said, "You shouldn't raise your voice against a person who has a cup of hot tea in their hand." Jace getting the idea calmed down, "Fine keep your damn tea, I'm going to wake up Carmine."

He strolled away from Ellie leaving her to drink her tea peacefully. He found Carmine snoozing against a wall towards the back. The rookie had slept with his helmet on, something Jace knew must've been uncomfortable for him. He kicked the rookie slightly with the tip of his foot. The young ODST simply mumbled in his sleep and turned over on his side. Annoyed Jace kicked him hard in the ass, causing Carmine to yelp and leap up.

"What! What is it?" He yelled out rubbing his sore rear. Jace smiled, "It's time to wake up."

"Oh ok," Carmine began to follow Jace to where the others were gathering, "You know, that was the best night of sleep I have had since we dropped." Jace smirked and continued on.

The grunts and Azo were all discussing something in a hushed tone and only acknowledged the two approaching ODST when Jace gave an erupt cough. "Human Jace and Carmine, glad to see you are awake," Azo said.

"I bet you are," Jace retorted, he turned his attention to the grunt leader Babble, "So are you going to show us back to our kind now." Babble nodded, "Right after breakfast is done."

Jace looked around to see a few of the grunts were still eating; he sighed and adorned his helmet. Ellie strolled over and stood next to him, "Something bothering you babe?"

Jace looked at her and smiled, "Nothing is wrong, I'm just getting anxious, I feel like we haven't seen the last of those Brutes from the school."

Ellie nodded in agreement, "I feel the same…"

**BOOM**

Something hit one of the windows in the front of the gas station exploded into a multitude of shards. Everyone hit the deck; Jace grabbed Ellie and threw himself on top of her to shield her from the glass fragments. The grunts began to squeak in terror and some were running in circles afraid.

"What the hell was that?" Carmine yelled over the din. No one got to answer as another projectile rocked the gas station. Azo ran up to one of the windows and peered out, "Brutes!"

Azo spotted five Brutes made their way across the desolate street firing their weapon of choice and taking cover every so often. He also saw a brute in golden armor standing arms crossed across the street. a Brute with a brute shot stood next to him firing another volley at the building he was currently in.

"Shit," Jace swore, "I knew they would find us."

"What do we do?" asked a terrified grunt.

It was at this moment that Azo took lead of the group, "Babble lead Ellie and Carmine out of here, Jace and I will hold the brutes off to by you some time."

"Wait, I can help," protested Carmine. Azo shook his head, "No you don't have a strong enough weapon any ways."

"Actually," Babble said going into a box near him, he pulled out a M7S and two magazines for it, "I found this when I was searching the train station near here, also found some ammo for it."

"Seriously?" Carmines responded taking the offering, "I just cannot get rid of you can I?" He placed a clip in the ammo cartridge and pulled back the stock, "I can help now."

Azo sighed and said, "Fine but make sure your injury doesn't slow us down." "No worries."

Another grenade like projectile hit the side of the gas station causing a few of the grunts to jump. Plasma and spikes were beginning to come through the open holes and windows. "Get going," Azo barked.

Ellie ran up to Jace and hugged him tightly and then whispered, "You better come back." Jace returned the hug equally as tightly and said, "I will." Azo saw this out of the corner of his eye but did not say anything, instead focusing on the mission at hand. Ellie let go of Jace and ran after the grunts that were trudging out the back door. All but one grunt remained, Jace recognized him as Kibble.

"What are you doing Unggoy?" Azo inquired, "Go with your brothers." Kibble shook his head, "I am no coward." Azo nodded and the four took up firing positions. Jace put his crosshairs on the head of one of the brutes and fired.

The firefight was ferocious. Spikes flew this way and that. Plasma hit walls and melted them like some profound acid. Bullets whipped out flicking into metal and sometimes finding their mark on their intended targets.

"Come on," Jace grunted as he put down a brute that had nearly taken his head off with a spiker. The brute howled and dropped over backwards dead.

Carmine fired off a few burst from his M7 and ducked back down, he shouted at the others, "Fuck there's too many off them!" The intensity of fire from the brutes was so overwhelming the four defenders were literally just ducking for cover the entire time.

Jace crawled over to Azo, "We need to get the hell outta here!" Azo looked up at him, a trail of blood seeping down from a spot on his face where a plasma burst grazed him, "I agree human, lets move out the back way."

They all turned to leave and were stunned to see another two Brutes burst in through the back door guns a blazing. One was dual wielding Type-25 Carbines and laughed maniacally as it fired both of them.

Azo and Jace both dodged out of the way. Carmine barely avoided a spike through the throat. Jace swore every curse word he knew as he fired on the two brutes. His 9.5x40mm rounds just bounced off the brutes' armor like they were pea shooters.

"Kibble is there any other way out?" Azo asked firing his carbine at the multiple brutes outside. He got no answer, he repeated himself with the same results. He looked over at the grunt and sighed. Kibble had taken a spike round right through the forehead.

Jace shimmied over and saw what Azo was looking at. "At least he died quickly," Jace reassured. Azo nodded and fired a burst from his weapon and knocked a brute onto its ass.

"What do we do now," asked the rookie firing blindly at the brutes outside. Azo saw the broken window in the front and smiled, "We improvise, come on."

Jace leapt out the window barely avoiding lacerations from the broken shards as he landed with a thump on the ground outside. A nearby brute charged out of cover towards him but was gunned down by Azo who landed next to Jace, followed by Carmine. The Elite scooped up the human and the trio began to run dodging plasma and spikes like it was their business. Another round from the brute shot soared over their heads and impacted on one of the gas pumps near the store. The resulting explosion blew out most of the store in a fiery inferno.

"Jesus Christ!" Carmine yelled as they rounded a corner to the back of the station. They leapt over a small fence and ran across the street to an alley where the others were gathered. Ellie crouched at the mouth of the entrance her submachine gun raised as they approached. For a second Jace thought she was going to fire on them but her shots flew right pass them and hit something behind them. Jace pivoted to spot a few of the brutes coming out of the explosion. They looked like demonic demons from hell as they fired. They weren't affected by the flames due to their shields holding out long enough for them to get out of the fire. Although the two that were in the gas station had been incinerated.

"Move we will cover your backs," Azo yelled as he took up Ellie's position and fired. Ellie nodded and lead the grunts away. Babble came up to Carmine and asked, "Where is Kibble?" the rookie shook his head.

Babble looked crestfallen and slowly followed the others. Jace put his hand on the rookies shoulder, "Go and make sure he is okay." Carmine feebly nodded and followed after the others.

Jace turned his attention back to the brutes. They were coming with vengeance now and they were coming hard. Jace fired his BR steadily, trying not to waste ammo but it was hard with those damn shields of theirs.

He and Azo slowly backpedaled and fired as the brutes closed in. he could hear the golden armored Brute urging his soldiers on, "Go get 'em skin 'em alive." A howl of agreement went up from the brutes ranks.

"Like hell you're skinning me," Jace remarked firing another burst from his rifle. The pair backpedaled down the alley firing, they didn't notice that in an alley conjoining with the one they were in, a pair of figures moved stealthy towards them.

It was only by luck that Jace spotted the two Brute Stalkers. The light from a plasma burst had illuminated one of the stalkers. He had been able to turn and fire before the brute could react. The bullets passed into its head and it fell over. The other stalker barreled forward pushing its fallen comrade out of the way. Jace had no time to react.

The stalker pinned him against the far wall, he dropped his BR and was staring right into the gaping jaws of the Covenant powerhouse. He tried to reach for his M6C, but it was just out of reach. The stalker reached behind it and pulled out a crude large combat knife. It raised its arm for the kill, a smile on its face. Just as it was about to strike for the kill it made a grunting sound. Twin prongs protruded from its chest. With a grunt of effort Azo lifted the brute stalker impaled by his energy sword and lifted it up and over its head. He used the still live stalker as a meat shield. Plasma and spike slammed into the stalker and it let out a cry of pain as its comrades fired on it.

"Get out of here," Azo barked as he braced himself against the back of the brute. Jace feebly nodded and grabbed his BR picked himself up and headed down the alley after the others.

The brutes were closing the gap fast. They were literally crawling over each other trying to get at the Sangheili. Azo pushed the stalker into the first couple that came at him. They caught their dead comrade and threw him out of the way. One of them raised a Typr-25 carbine and fired. The spikes buried themselves in the wall above Azo's head.

He ducked and swung at the brute, nearly severing its head but it ducked. The other Brute extended its wrist blades and swung at the elite. Azo was barely able to get out of range. He backpedaled swiftly as the brutes closed in howling and roaring at the top of their lungs.

He took another step back and slipped on an old discarded metal tube. He landed on his back knocking the air out of his lungs. The brute with the wrist blades leapt upon him. For a few seconds the pair was wrestling for control of the energy sword. Azo felt the heat of the blade as the brute slowly forced the blade towards his neck. He strained and strained but the brute was just to strong for him.

Suddenly a burst of lead hit the brute square in the head, snapping its head back. Azo capitalized on the minor advantage and pushed the brute off of him. He risked a quick glance back to see Jace firing into the horde of brutes; within the tight confines of the alley there wasn't much room to dodge and the brutes were feeling every bullet that hit them.

Azo quickly got up and retreated back to where Jace was, "Why did you come back human?"

Jace depolarized his helmet and smiled, "You saved my life, I saved yours, we are even."

"Seems I get saved by you humans a lot lately," Azo remarked, but it fell on deaf ears as Jace was to busy firing. Azo swapped his energy sword for his carbine and added his fire to the mix. The Brutes had fallen back slightly but now they were pushing again.

"We got to fall back," Jace instructed. Azo nodded; the two began to backpedal like they did before.

Lepidus smirked. His surprise attack on the humans and Sangheili had initially caught them off guard. But it was he who got a surprise when he found only two humans in the black armor and the Sangheili inside. They had escaped the initial ambush and retreated to an alley not far away.

Abacus and his other Stalker had spotted the Unggoy and the last human retreat into the alley. Lepidus had sent the two stalkers in to ambush them. His other Jiralhanae warriors charged the alley and he was surprised to find only the Sangheili and the one of the other black armored humans holding the line while the others retreated.

Abacus had ambushed the duo but the fool had gone and gotten himself killed and used as a meat shield. But he did slow them down and his brutes were able to get the jump on the Sangheili but then the other black armored human came back and saved the accursed Sangheili.

Now Lepidus' forces were pushing agin trying to kill the Sangheili and at least capture the human. Lepidus lead the charge after the fleeing enemy. Soon victory would be his and he might get command of even more troops.

Jace and Azo rounded a corner and ran down another alleyway. Jace blind fired behind his back and turned to Azo, "How far do you think the others are?" He got his answer in the form of a bullets whizzing pass his head. He looked up to see Ellie and Carmine taking cover behind a dumpster and a pile of trash bags respectively.

"Get down!" she shouted. Azo and Jace hit the deck. And in good time too, Ellie and Carmine both unleashed a hail of lead from their M7S submachine guns. The brutes were going with too much momentum to stop and bullets hit them like a train. There was a moment of confusion as to concussion grenades went off in the mass of brutes.

Jace and Azo used that confusion to escape with the two other ODST down the alley and around the corner to a dead end. There the Unggoy waited. They were wheezing incredibly hard. Azo knew that there methane tanks were running on almost empty now.

"So what do we do now it's a dead end," Carmine said, panic beginning to set in his voice.

Jace looked around at Azo and Ellie and realized they were looking at him; he shook his head, "I'm sorry guys I don't know what to do, I just don't know." The group got sullen they knew in a moment the brutes were going to come around the corner and there was nothing they could do about it. They would just have to take as many as they could.

"We have ...a... idea," wheezed babble, the grunts face was paler and he looked sick. "We are…running low… on methane," he said taking a long deep breath before continuing, "We will… sacrifice ourselves to hold… them off."

"That's blasphemy!" Azo shouted, "We will all transcend to the next life together. Babble shook his head, "No sir… it is us who will be transcending…this day, you guys will live to… fight another day."

Azo realized he was right and bowed before Babble, "Thank you sir, you and your comrades' sacrifice will be remembered." The ODST's also bowed. Babble simply nodded and signaled for his comrades to follow.

They waddled around the corner, and with the last of their strength they all pulled out plasma grenades. Babble looked at his brethren and smiled, "We fought well my brothers, now time to go to a place where we can breathe freely and eat till our hearts content." A chorus of wheezy cheers greeted this. Babble looked forward. The brutes were coming full speed, Lepidus at their head.

"I'm coming Kibble," With that Babble and the others activated their plasma Grenades and charged forward with the last of their energy. Some of the brutes tried to slow down when they realized what was happening, but their comrades behind them pushed them on unintentionally. Lepidus was too blind by ambition and dreams of promotion to realize what was happening until too late. A look of horror imprinted on his face as he made contact with the lead grunt major.

The explosion was almost deafening. The four survivors could only cover their ears as the grenades went off one after another. What was left of the grunts Methane ignited and caused even more damage.

Azo lead the three humans around the corner and sighed. The explosion had caused the two walls on either side of the alley to collapse on top of the group. A rubble pile a few feet high blocked the path. Limbs and blood were everywhere. Ellie turned away from the mess burying her head in Jace's chest. The black ODST could only rub her back as he said, "Dang those grunts were some tough SOB's." Azo nodded as he began to climb the pile, avoiding body parts whenever he could.

"So where do we go now?" asked Carmine as the humans followed up the rubble pile. Azo got to the top of the pile and stopped, he bent down and picked up a triangular breathing mask, he looked up at the gray sky and said, "We head to where Babble and the others wanted us to go."

**Author's Note**: **See grunts can be heroes too, just goes to show size doesn't matter. Anyways hope you liked that one because I know I did. Hey I have a question I need answered, I know it's bad form to ask it here but none of my friends have seen it to answer. If any of you have seen the movie ****The Chronicles of Riddick**** can you please explain to me the plot of it, and how it pertains to ****Pitch Black****? Thank you and please Read and Review. **


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System**

Lieutenant Richard Dyke slid down the small incline into the ditch his men were taking cover in.

"Stay in the ditch and keep your head down, they got snipers out there," he whispered loudly to his men. His radio operator, Private John Webb grimaced, "Sir what's taking so long I can't take this anymore." Dyke could tell the young marine was getting anxious, "Calm down, as soon as 1st and 3rd Platoon commences their attack."

Lieutenant Dyke was the Commanding Officer of Easy Company, and despite the name they were usually given the hardest missions assigned to the 81st. Their mission at the moment was to spear head an Operation and capture vital ground and hold onto it before reinforcements can arrive. The vital ground in question was a mile of apartment complexes.

Dyke had split the company up and ordered 1st Platoon to take the right flank while 3rd took the left. That left Dyke and 2nd Platoon to take the center apartments. Though this was at the moment the heaviest guarded and he knew it would be a challenge.

Dyke peeked over the rim of the ditch. He looked across the hundred yards of barren, crater filled landscape at the apartment they were assaulting. It looked like a skeletal version of itself; one of those buildings that just had literally every window blown out and was highly damaged. What purpose a piece of crap was to them was beyond Dyke but he knew he had to take it.

He could make out a couple Jackal Snipers patrolling the roof of the apartment. It was a wonder that they hadn't spotted him when he had scouted the place out.

Command had attempted to soften up defense with a pre artillery barrage and even a air strike from one of the few remaining Longswords left. These had done nothing but leave plenty of craters in the land between them and the apartment and destroyed most of the surrounding area. He wasn't even sure the enemy had been hit.

He sighed and looked up at the gray sky. The rain from yesterday had been harsh, and he was very happy it was over. What he wasn't happy about was the fact that his company had left before the attack on echo base by the Covenant happened. He didn't like the fact his home base had been attacked while they were making their way to midtown.

Any further thought was interrupted by a voice over the COM, _"Lieutenant Dyke this is Sergeant Lister of 1__st__ Platoon we are commencing attack."_

Immediately after another voice came over the COM, _"This is 3__rd__ Platoon we are attacking."_

_Show time. _He turned around to his mortar section, "Sergeant Speirs I want mortars and grenades on that apartment to give us some cover."

Sergeant Henry Speirs was a grizzled veteran who survived conflict on Reach, Dyke usually took whatever he said with an interest, "LT are you sure? We have to take the building."

Dyke nodded, "We have to take the building but that doesn't mean it can't be roughed up a little," he turned to two marines; one of them holding the M247 General Purpose Machine Gun, "Sergeant Flamer provide suppressive while we cross, be sure not to hit us."

Flamer nodded setting up the stand for the portable machine gun and placing it atop it. The sergeant placed a cigarette in his mouth. Dyke turned to the other twenty nine men, "The rest of you lets go." Without a second thought Dyke crested the top of the incline and charged across the barren field, his men didn't hesitate to follow.

Sergeant Speirs and his three other men in his mortar platoon finished setting up the pair M78 Mortar tubes. The tubes were about two feet long each and looked like the mortars of the twenty first century but a little more high tech.

"Fire!" he shouted, the private next to him slipped in the mortar bomb and a second later it launched out and flew in an arc towards the apartment. It landed with a boom on top of the apartment scoring a kill on the snipers up there.

"Covering fire!" Sergeant Flamer shouted as he began to fire the 7.62x51mm high caliber rounds.

Dyke ran quickly forward, the constant thumping on the ground reminding him his men were right behind him. "Spread out," he shouted signaling for his men to spread out and avoid clustering. A lance of purple flew pass him and hit the marine behind him in the head killing him instantly.

"Shit sniper," he ducked into a nearby crater; he heard a thump next to him. He turned to see Corporal Chen next to him. The Chinese marine peered over the corner and began firing his BR55 over the rim, "good day to be killing eh?"

Dyke smiled and put down his own fire on the house with his MA5. But at this range it was impossible to accurately hit anything. He could see a lance of grunts and brutes taking cover behind the destroyed walls outside the apartment. The Covenant troops returned fire, ducking and weaving to avoid being slaughtered by the lead flying everywhere.

He heard a whistling over his head and looked up just in time to spot a mortar obliterate part of the Covenant hiding behind the wall.

"Lets move!" he shouted clearing the crater and charging forward. He moved quickly avoiding the constant fire coming from the apartment. He witnessed a marine next to him get torn in half by fire from a plasma turret.

As he got closer he raised his weapon and fired at the grunts nearest to him.

"Grunts in the open!" Chen yelled out as he added his fire with Dykes. The squat aliens made painful squeaking noises as they were peppered by multiple rounds; their fluorescent blood splattering on the floor.

Dyke stacked up on the wall and peered around it. A trio of Jackals was hiding behind their energy shields firing with their needlers. Chen set up next to Dyke and fired. He hit a jackal through the chink in its shield, causing it grab at the wound, he fired again hitting hit in its vulture like head. As it collapsed its two comrades attempted to fall back into the house but another mortar blew them to pieces.

The rest of the men lined up behind the walls, firing at any Covenant unfortunate enough to still be outside. A few were able to get inside however. Dykes stood up and signaled for his men to move forward, "Let's clear that apartment!"

He moved forward with Chen and a shotgun wielding marine named Roycewicz. "Chen get a grenade in there." Chen pulled out a grenade pulled the pin and threw it through one of the open windows, a few seconds later it exploded sending out dust and debris through the open window space.

Without losing momentum Dykes leapt through the open window and skidded to a halt on the stone floor. The apartment didn't look that much appealing. It was like one of those apartments you would see in old cities like Stalingrad during World War II. In fact it looked exactly like it.

To his immediate right stood a jackal, its shield raised in a defensive position. Dykes fired hitting the shield changing its color from blue to violet. Roycewicz came through the window and fired a round from his M90 CAWS at the alien. The jackals shield couldn't take the round and dissipated. Dykes fired a burst from his assault rifle and killed the jackal. Chen hopped through the window, his BR raised.

The other marines of the platoon came in through multiple opening s firing on the Covenant troops within the level. "2nd squad clear the basement, 1st with me we are clearing the upper levels!" Dykes charged up a nearby set of stairs, the other nine members of 1st squad followed him up.

He got to the landing and instantly fired forward. Taking the top part of a grunt majors skull off. "Clear these rooms!" he barked as he made his way into the nearest room, Webb on his heels. He went in and nearly avoided his head being taken off by a spike round. A brute minor crouched behind an overturned table using it for cover. Both marines raised their rifles and instantly put down the brute. After making sure the room was cleared he proceeded back out into the hall.

Roycewicz pumped a shot into each of the doors hinges and kicked it down, Chen went in yelling, "Breaching! Breaching!" Dykes heard a gunshot and a clear come out from the Chinese marine.

The apartments were cleared after a few more minutes and all the squad leaders of the platoon gathered around the LT on the 2nd floor landing. The rest of the men dumped the dead Covenant bodies outside.

"Alright it's going to take command a while to get some more men up here," Dykes informed his officers, "So we are going to have to hold out until then."

"Yessir!" they all barked in unison.

Dykes nodded with approval at his officers' enthusiasm, "So I want wire and mines placed on the perimeter, Sergeant Speirs I want your mortar section on the roof ready to fire on the enemy."

"The roof sir," Speirs spoke up, "Won't we be a little exposed up there?"

"Don't worry there is blown out sections of the roof; I just want you to fire through the holes as best as you can." Speirs nodded at the Lieutenants idea.

Dykes turned to Flamer, "I want your HMG in one of the windows on this level, when the Covvies attack I'm going to need you to displace and re engage accordingly."

"You got it LT," Flamer responded. Dykes looked around at his officers and smiled, "Then lets get to it shall we." They all dispersed to do as they were instructed.

Dyke sat atop the roof looking out at the sky. It was 5 pm but you couldn't tell it by looking at the sky, it just looked like a darker shade of gray. On the ground his men were getting the final mines in place and setting up their defenses.

He sighed; deep down inside he sometimes didn't think his men respected them that much. Usually this wouldn't bother him, but recently in the mess he has overheard conversations of men, usually sergeants and corporals saying that he was too young and inexperienced to lead them.

This was partially true; he was quite young and fresh out of OCS. The Battle of Earth would be his first campaign and with the way things are going probably his last. But he would strive to keep everyone of his men alive and get them back home to their families.

Any further thought was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. He turned around to see Jerry Chen coming on to the roof wearily avoiding the holes present.

"Yes Corporal?" He inquired as he helped the marine up onto the top. Chen looked slightly exhausted, panting very hard as he answered, "Been looking everywhere for you sir, Sergeant Pavlov has found something."

Dykes eyebrow raised at the notion, "Found what?"

"A cellar or something, Pavlov has asked you to come see for yourself." Dykes nodded, "then lead the way."

The two made their way down the three flights of stairs to the basement. Marines who weren't working on the defenses outside were inside resting, conversing or eating MRE's. They nodded or saluted to Lieutenant Dyke as he passed with Chen.

The two took the rigidity stairs into the basement. The basement was dark; only one light hung from the ceiling, and dust was everywhere even in the air. Dykes covered his mouth as he walked up to a trio of marines crowded around something. One of them, Sergeant Pavlov stepped aside as the Lieutenant approached.

"Sergeant, what've you got?"

Pavlov pointed to the ground. There a hatch door lay on the floor. It was pretty sturdy looking and looked as if it led deeper down. "We tried to open it but its shut from the other side," Pavlov informed.

"Hmm," Dyke knelt down and knocked on the wood. To everyone's surprise something knocked back.

"Whoa," Chen remarked. Dyke looked at Pavlov who nodded, "Hello anyone down there?"

A muffled voice answered back, _"Yes we are here and we are humans." _

"We?" Dyke questioned, "How much of you are down there?"

"_Ten of us, we are different families that lived in this here apartment," _the voice answered.

"Right can you open up, we are UNSC Marines," Dyke asked. They heard a few bolts unlocking and the hatch flew open. Out came a man, around his 30's. "Thank you thank you so much," he said hugging Dykes, he then went around shaking and hugging the other marines hands.

Nine more people came out. Four children, two elderly people and three women between 20 and 30. They all cheered and danced around. "We are saved we are saved!" shouted one of the children.

The first man, who must've been speaking came up to Dyke, "Thank you sir, we were in that cellar since the Covenant first attacked, we've been living off the small amount of food we stashed down there just in case of a situation like this occurred."

"Just doing my job sir," Dyke admitted.

The man had the biggest smile on his face and looked as if he was on the brink of tears when he said, "So if you guys are here that must mean you liberated the city right?"

Dyke shared an awkward look with Pavlov before saying, "Um not exactly, we were able to push them out of Brooklyn but we are having more trouble in Manhattan then we expected."

The mans smile went away instantly, "So the Covenant are still here surrounding us." He took a step back. Dyke took hold of his hand, "But don't worry, we are going to do everything in our power to keep you and the rest of the civvies safe Mr…."

"Watson, Joe Watson," Said Joe as he shook Dykes hand, "I want to be of service and not just a burden though." Dyke smiled, "Right now I need you to take care of your family," he handed him his M6D, "You need to be the last line of defense if we fall."

Joe wearily accepted the pistol and nodded, "What about the rest of them?"

"Right now I need you guys to stay down here, don't want to risk a sniper popping a shot off at you and hitting one of you," Joe nodded, "And when the Covenant attack, which they will, I need you and the rest to get back down there and seal yourself in."

Joe nodded again and looked at the others, "You hear that gang?" They all nodded, one of the kids yelled, "Kick some covenant ass!" He got a cuffing on the ears and a stern talking to by one of the mothers. Dyke couldn't help but smile.

He turned to head back upstairs, Sergeant Pavlov accompanied him, "Sir I think this mission just got a whole lot harder, we got to accompany for civvies now."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dyke said turning on his sergeant.

Pavlov put his hands up, "Just saying sir, we got to watch out for collateral damage and what not, have you gotten through to HQ?"

Dyke shook his head, "No, Covenant is jamming us pretty damn hard, I will have Webb keep trying though."

Pavlov nodded and began to walk away, but stopped and turned around, "And sir, you are doing a good job as leader, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Dyke smile was brighter then the sun. He thanked the Sergeant and headed back upstairs to the roof. There he would wait out the calm before the storm.

**Author's Note:**** Wow Thirty chapters. Three months ago when I started** **I thought I would never get this far with this fic. I thank all those who have read and reviewed. You guys are what made this fanfic what it is. Without you guys I would probably have quit a long time ago. I thank you all again and remember READ & REVIEW!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Halo. And a big thanks to The Lonespartan for the info on Riddick. That movie was kind of confusing when I first watched it. Anyways you know the deal Read and when you're done review. **

**Chapter Thirty One**

**October 25, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Factory District), Earth, Sol System**

Some people would say that some of the toughest fighting in the Battle for Manhattan was in the multiple warehouses and plants that made up the factory district. The Covenant took the district early on, within the first forty eight hours of fighting and held it vigorously.

Colonel Winters sent in two companies, Hotel and Fox, to push the Covenant back and take over the large factories. Unexpected help came in the form of Torrent Company of the 501ST Elite Marine Infantry Division; who had been initially held back in reserve during the battle in Brooklyn. On orders from Major Harper they had been sent across the East River to assist the battered 81st.

Colonel Winters sent them to the meat grinder of the Factory district where they reimbursed the other two companies.

The skirmishes in the factory district however were beginning to turn into a stalemate. Over the last three hours the Traxus Industrial Plant had changed hands three times. It was intense fighting that was going no where.

Bombing on both sides were also futile. The enemy combatants could easily take cover in some of the factory buildings that were made for the specific purpose of withstanding bombings and shelling.

The Brute High Chieftain Dractus decided to dispatch one of his best snipers to end the draw, Zhar Man Slayer. The sniper went in and made himself known. He mainly targeted higher ranking marine NCOs and higher ranked Sangheili. More then once he had turned the tide of battle in the Loyalists' favor.

UNSC command noticed this and decided to send in a counter sniper team to defeat this notorious Jackal.

Ricky Li, Isabella Ramirez and Fal' Cavamee were the counter sniper team sent. The trio sped through the ruined streets of Manhattan on a pair of Mongoose ATV's. Ricky driving with Isabella of course. The two humans were surprised how fast Fal had gotten himself acquainted with the Mongoose. He was driving like a pro minutes after they had left the base. Isabella was surprised anyway; Ricky could've cared less.

The three spent much of the afternoon slipping pass Covenant patrols, rerouting around rubble and abandoned cars and even had to outrun a pair of Ghost that had given chase. They had actually driven through a heated firefight between a platoon of marines and an equal number of Covenant troops. Bullets and plasma whizzed by their heads threatening to end their lives. But miraculously they had gotten through unscathed.

They reached the factory district around 6 pm but one wouldn't have known due to the grayness of the sky, which threatened to bring another rain like the previous days. They came to a screeching halt in front of a pair of HuCiv HC1500's that appeared to have jackknifed on the road effectively blocking their path.

Ricky killed the engines of the Mongoose and looked up in bewilderment at the two trucks; he turned back and looked at Isabella, "So what now?"

"We should get moving, before the brutes come upon us," Fal mentioned. Ricky glared at him, "I didn't ask you split lip."

Fal looked as if he was going to punch the ODST, but before he could get any farther Isabella was between them, "Enough you two, we need to work together or we are all going to get killed out here." The two other snipers glared at each other for a moment before they went separated.

Isabella sighed and unslung her SRH199 from her shoulder, "We move on foot, it isn't to far away from here and I know the way." Ricky nodded and followed after the SWAT sniper, Fal right on his heels.

As they made their way through a deserted office building Ricky noticed through the window that the landscape dramatically changed from ruined city buildings and cars to more desolate ground and more factory buildings.

Isabella noticed him gazing outside, "Interesting huh?"

Ricky nodded, "Yea but one would wonder why the Covenant would want something like factories under their control, they don't even use the same materials as us."

Fal sat by silently, even though he knew the answer, he knew Ricky wouldn't want to hear any of it.

"It's because a lot of the stuff produced in the factory are military hardware," Isabella answered. Ricky's brow raised though you wouldn't know it because of the visor.

"The four factories that make up the district are the Traxus Industrial Plant, Red October Nuclear Facility, Debar Industries Tank Factory and Luzar Chemical Plant," Isabella explained, "Most produce materials or weapons for the UNSC and have been for years."

"When the Covenant attacked they stormed the factory district within days of their arrival," Isabella went on, "They must've figured that the factories were important to the war cause because they put a helluva lot of troops into the fighting there. UNSC Army units and Colonial Militia attempted to hold them off but it was all in vain. Despite the fighting going on right outside their doors the workers at the tank factory still were putting out tanks. The workers would finish a tank and would ride it into battle, sometimes without any paint or a firing optic."

"Wow those guys were some tough SOBs," Ricky remarked, Fal nodded in agreement.

"Yes they were, but alas they to were defeated in a matter of hours, the whole factory district fell to the Covenant."

"At least we are taking it back," Ricky said trying to boast the moral of the woman.

"Yes but we are paying for every inch we take," she said leading the group again. Ricky knew she was a exaggerating but in a way she was right. They weren't fighting for cities, towns or even city blocks, they were fighting for every yard. _Inch by bloody inch._

"Are you coming Helljumper?" Isabella said impatiently peering back around the corner.

"Yeah," he said grabbing his sniper, "Yeah."

They walked through a few more office buildings and office buildings and crossed through a parking lot to a large cement wall.

"How are we supposed to get over this monstrosity?" Fal asked looking up in amazement at the wall. It was at least twenty feet high and looked like it could withstand a point blank round from a Scorpion Main Battle Tank.

"Through here," Isabella said with a smile on her face. She was sitting atop a large pipe. Well larger then a normal pipe anyway. It was maybe no more then four feet wide in diameter. "Umm you got to be kidding me?" Ricky muttered.

"Nope, this leads right into the Luzar Chemical Plant and that's where your little sniper friend was last seen, so… through you go."

The Elite and ODST walked up to the opening and stared at it. Ricky smirked and looked at the Elite, "So squid head you think you can fit through there?"

Fal glared at Ricky, "Yes I do human, just try to keep up." Without another word Fal dived into the pipe. At first it seemed he wasn't going to fit but with a little squirming he got through.

"You next ODST," Isabella said with a smirk motioning to the hole. Ricky sighed and followed after the Elite. He was a much easier fit. Isabella followed and the trio went through.

Elsewhere in the Luzar Chemical Plant, a figure sat motionless atop a crate as it watched a marine squad leader smoking a cigarette.

"Pitiful human," Zhar said, before he pressed the trigger on his rifle and a purple beam flew out and took off the top of the marines head. Zhar snickered to himself and added another mark on his beam rifle. He had twenty seven currently.

**Ping!** A trio of bullets pinged off of the pipe above the Kig-yars head. "Shit!" Zhar swore as he dove off the top of the crate landing with a awkward thus on the ground. He began sprinting away from the scene.

"Humans found me faster then I thought they would," he mumbled to himself as he peered around a corner to make sure it was clear. Seeing it was the Kig-Yar made his way down another street.

Well, street was an overstatement; it was more of a dirty crater filled boulevard with dead bodies from both side littered everywhere. The sniper ignored the carnage around him and made his way into another warehouse. In the distance he could here the sound of artillery from both sides finding their targets all over the place. It was chaos, but Zhar loved chaos. All the more less people would notice him.

He exited the warehouse into a train yard. Mag lev cargo transports sit abandoned where their operators left them on the tracks. He made his way through the trains weary of a firefight happening nearby. He came out on the other side of the train yard to a medium sized factory complex. The factory looked run down and seemed like it hadn't been used even before the Covenant had come.

Sulfur was all he smelled. It hit him like a ton of bricks. At first hit he covered his nose, but slowly adjusted to it. He made his way up a pile of yellow chemicals the humans used for whatever. The pile made a convenient way to get up onto the second floor of the building.

He was surprised at how empty the factory was not even a single vermin scurried around. Part of the roof was missing. He made his way pass an office and to an interesting site. There was a pit filled with some sort of heated liquid. He could feel the heat from where he was standing. He made a mental note to avoid it and moved on.

He came to an outside area of the building and noticed that with a little effort he could get into the pipes located above the main stairway. They led out and around the outside area.

"Good place for an ambush," he told himself. With a powerful leap he latched onto the lower most pipes. And with a grunt he pulled himself up into the pipes. He walked through to the center area. He layed down and placed his beam rifle next to him. He took out the aiming device most Kig-Yar snipers used. He preferably didn't like to use them, but they could see in infra red and it helped spot enemies that he couldn't see, such as Sangheili.

_Now just to sit and play the waiting game._

Ricky helped Isabella out of the pipe. The trio had made it inside after a hour half hour of squirming their way through the drainage.

"Finally out of there," Ricky said stretching his limbs, "It was very annoying in there."

"For once I agree with you human," Fal said stretching his limbs. He had it the worst off. The Elites were a pretty big species and the fact he was able to get through the pipe was one helluva feat.

"If you boys are done complaining," Isabella remarked, "We are in the Luzar Chemical plant, or at least part of it. My part in this mission is done; I'm just combat support for you guys now."

"Wonderful," Ricky sarcastically retorted. He peered around to take in his surroundings. The factory had many pipes above them and the building in front of him looked like it had had the shit beaten out of it.

"Be careful of the pipes up above, I fell like he could be up there," Ricky informed taking a step forward. He was about to step forward when Fal suddenly shouted, "Don't move forward!"

Ricky suddenly stopped midstride causing him to almost fall. He picked himself up and angrily turned on the Elite, "What was that for?"

Fal pointed to the pile of yellow sulfur in front of him, "That stuff will get caught on your combat boots and you will leave tracks that even a blind Unggoy could follow."

Ricky was embarrassed because of his amateur mistake but kept it to himself. "Thanks," was all he said. Fal nodded and turned to Isabella, "I think it is best for us to split up, cover more ground."

Isabella nodded as Fal continued, "I will go alone, I will go right and wrap around, you guys keep going straight and we will regroup on the far side if nothing goes wrong." Ricky was about to say something, but Isabella put up a hand to silence him, "Right good luck."

Fal nodded and activated his camo. He slowly began to become transparent until only his brown eyes were visible and then those to disappeared.

Isabella turned to Ricky, "Well Helljumper lead the way." Ricky gave her a death look; she smirked and made a kissing face at him. He flipped her bird and they proceeded into the factory.

Zhar had heard the enemy before he saw them. He looked in the direction of the noise and was surprised to see the red outline of a Sangheili. He could barely contain his excitement as he grabbed his sniper and took off the vision helmet. He saw nothing. He put back on the helmet and noticed the Sangheili sneaking around in clear view.

"Cocky bastard," Zhar said, "He thinks just because he has active camouflage I can't see him." He raised the oracle of the beam rifle to his eye and was about to fire when he heard movement to his right.

He turned and spotted the outline of two humans; male and a female making their way into the factory. He thought it over for a second and decided he would pick off the humans first as they were easier targets and then take out the Sangheili.

"With those three kills I'll have my thirty," Zhar said making his way out of the pipes.

Ricky and Isabella made their way into the derelict factory, their guns sweeping the area back and forth watching out for any potential enemies. They searched high and low for anybody but came up with nothing. However they were oblivious to the figure leaning back against the shadows tracking their movements.

Elsewhere, unknown about the snipers whereabouts, a Captain of a marine company battling near the Lazur Chemical Plant was radioing in a carpet bomb air strike on the area before he and his marines were overrun. Command received the messages and sent in bombers.

The air strike came in the form of two Shortsword class Bombers. Shortswords were the spiritual successor of the B2 bomber of the 21st century. They were used primarily for short-range, heavy payload bombing runs against enemy ground targets.

The two bombers had come from an air base in Rhode Island. A squadron of four Longsword class Fighters escorted them. They swept in low over the buildings of Manhattan as they came into the city. Almost everyone in the city and their mother could see the bombers and fighters as they approached their target zone.

When they reached the factories the Shortswords began to unleash their payloads. Dozens of bombs began to fall from the drop bay. They went out as the Bombers moved along the whole district.

Explosions were everywhere. Covenant and some UNSC forces were obliterated by the ordnance. Many fuel depots and chemical plants throughout the whole district were set ablaze creating a massive inferno.

Grunts let out shrieks and fled in all directions while their Brute commanders tried to quell them. Many marines were burned with third degree burns and had to be immediately treated. Despite all this however, the bombers returned for another run, this time at the Lazur Chemical Plant.

Ricky heard the sound of the approaching bombers before he spotted the falling bombs. Isabella saw this to and her eyes widened to the size of saucer plates.

"Shit! We got to get out of here," Isabella shouted in a panicked voice. Ricky looked around and spotted a table that looked quite sturdy. He pulled Isabella by her sleeve under the table, "The building should hold, and we can use this table to block any glass or minor debris from falling on us."

"But what if the building doesn't hold!" she cried out, covering her head. The bombers were getting a lot closer. Ricky gripped her shoulder and depolarized. He looked into her eyes and said, "Just trust me." She nodded feebly.

Fal saw the bombers coming and had the same idea as Ricky; he went into the office and hid under the desk of the manger.

Zhar was already under sturdy cover and simply sat and waited.

As the bombers got closer Ricky could see that Isabella wasn't faring to well. But he couldn't expect her to be under these circumstances. She was a police officer who had never experienced this intense of combat before. Ricky being an ODST, he had bee through quite a lot in his lifetime and experienced a lot.

The bombers were just one block away now. Without warning Isabella shouted, "Fuck this!" and sprinted from under the table.

Ricky barely had time to shout "No!" before a purple beam hit Isabella squarely in the forehead. Her eyes rolled back and she fell dead to the floor.

Ricky was shocked but quickly snapped out of it and fired in the direction the shot came from. He saw the Jackal dodge back around the corner from whence it came. He had no time to think as the bombers flew right over at that time dropping their payload onto the factory. The sound was deafening, and the ground shook as if a earthquake had happened. He ducked under the table covering his head as they flew over.

After they left it looked as it did before. The building had held up like he had predicted he would. The only major difference in scenery was the dead body of Isabella lying on the floor. A gaping hole through her head and a puddle of crimson blood forming under her head. With a sigh Ricky radioed Fal, "Isabella is dead, she took a round through the head, I found the snipers position however, he is on the upper levels within the catwalks and pipes."

Fal noted this and quickly made his way to the area Ricky was in to engage the sniper. _Now I can kill this animal._

Zhar was surprised when the human female charged out from under the cover she was in. He quickly tracked her and with a flick of his finger put a round right through her head. But then suddenly a shot nearly took his head off. He whipped back around the corner with a screech. He had been spotted by the other human. He quickly moved positions knowing that a sniper should never stay in one spot for too long.

He moved out onto the catwalks and was crossing to the other side when he noticed the Elite. At the same time Fal noticed him. They both fired at the same time, and both missed by mere inches. Fal ducked down behind the barrel he was standing next to. And with amazing acrobatic skill Zhar leapt onto a platform about ten feet from the catwalk. The jackal stacked up against the wall and prepared for a fight.

The two entered a complicated sniper duel. Each taking potshots at each other and moving form cover to cover trying to outwit one another. While this was happening Ricky was flanking around behind the Jackal. He could hear the plasma discharge as the two Covenant species fired at one another.

Fal moved quickly from behind a barrel to a crate and peered around the lip. He couldn't see the Jackal but he knew the bastard was still up on that platform. He leveled his Beam Rifle slowly; he would pop him as soon as he peered around the corner.

Zhar peeked around the corner slowly. He didn't spot the Elite behind the barrels that he was behind last time. He only had a second to react when he spotted Fal again. With reflexes that were unnatural Zhar aimed and fired, just as Fal did.

Fal's shot went wide, but Zhar's was on point. It hit Fal's Beam Rifle and actually went through it and into the left side of the Elites face. Fal dropped what remained of his beam rifle and clutched his face, roaring in agony. Fal fell onto the floor writhing like he was on fire.

Zhar was surprised; he hadn't expected to hit anything with that one in a million shot. But he did. That's why they called him the Man Slayer. _I should get my title changed to Sangheili slayer_, he thought with a smile. The Sangheili had fallen out of view when he was hit and Zhar had to reposition to finish the Elite off for good.

Ricky moved quickly. He knew Fal was in trouble from his screams of pain over the COM. He had made his way up onto the catwalks and was progressing towards the Elites last known position. He came around a corner just in time to spot the Jackal about to descend from the platform.

He raised his SRS99D-S2 AM and fired. The shot punched a hole in a pipe near the Jackal. Zhar yelped out as hot steam sprayed onto his back and he sprinted away for better cover. Ricky had no shot as the steam masked the Jackals retreat. He cautiously gave chase.

Zhar was angry and in pain. He was angry the human sniper had gotten him by surprise and he was in pain from the hot steam that thrashed him along his colorful spine. He could feel the skin boiling back there and let out a groan of pain.

Despite the pain he knew the human would give chase and had purposefully led him down this way to ambush him. He passed barrel full of flammable material and smiled. He went a little farther back and took cover behind a wall made of plywood. He waited for a few seconds until he was rewarded with the human coming around the corner at a jog. He smiled showing his razor sharp teeth and fired.

The shot flew right into the barrel. The thing exploded and the human was thrown into the air, his sniper flying up even farther. "Another successful kill," he boasted adding another two marks to his beam rifle and getting up to find the elite again.

Ricky had been lucky. While he was falling he had been able to grab hold of the railing of the catwalk. He watched as his sniper fell into a pit of hot liquid. With a hissing noise the weapon slowly melted. "Damn!" Ricky grunted, he struggled to pull himself up but he was beginning to slip.

He was about to fall when a hand grabbed hold of his and pulled him up. He was surprised to see Fal. The Sangheili had a huge gash running from the front of his face through the eye all the way to the back. The wound had cauterized and left a black mark along its trajectory.

"You survived?" Ricky questioned. Fal smiled, "It will take more then a minor wound to kill this Sangheili."

Ricky couldn't help but smile, "Thank goodness for that, I thought I had lost two team mates in less then five minutes." Fal's tone changed to slight sorrow, "Yes, it is a shame what happened to Isabella, but now we must avenge her."

Ricky nodded, Fal asked, "Do you have any weapons left?"

"I got this," Ricky pulled out his M6G, he had opted to use the more common version of the pistol due to the fact that he needed a better close ranged weapon.

"Good," Fals' head bounced up and down in excitement, "Then we will go ambush the predator." With that the two went off in search of Zhar. Ricky didn't notice but Fal was breathing quite hard. The beam rifle round had down more damage then initially thought. Ricky didn't know it but Fal was living on very borrowed time.

Zhar smiled like a kid in a candy store. He had filled his quota for the day and he had had gotten his last kills from enemy snipers. That was a challenge, but he had come through. He was making his way to where the Sangheili should've died. He wanted to inspect the body and see if he could get any Intel off of him. High Chieftain Dractus would pay a lot for his info.

He came around the crate where the Elite should have died and was surprised to find a lot of blood but no Sangheili. He was wondering where he could've gone- when it suddenly hit him that the Sangheili could be anywhere. He had to find and kill him. He quickly made his way up a nearby ladder to get back to the upper floor. Zhar didn't notice it but he had stepped in a small pile of yellow sulfur.

Fal and Ricky moved quickly from cover to cover watching out for the sniper, when Fal suddenly stopped. Ricky almost bumped into the Elites back, "What is it?"

Fal pointed to the ground, "Look, tracks." Ricky looked down and spotted the three toed yellow tracks of a Jackals foot. "Hah we got the fucker," he smiled as he followed Fal. They followed the tracks to a set of ladders.

Fal looked up and observed the ladders. Ricky came up next to him and eyed the ladders, "He went up."

Fal thought the same thing but then he noticed the mirror on the wall near then. It was just by chance he spotted Zhar taking aim at the back of Ricky's head. Ricky didn't know what was happening till it was too late. Zhar fired.

Time seemed to slow down for the ODST. He turned around, but was only half way through his pivot before Fal pushed him out of the way. Ricky's visor was covered in indigo colored blood. He watched as Fal's body fell slowly to the floor, landing with a thud. Ricky quickly slid over to the Elites side.

"Fal!" The Sangheili turned his head slowly. The beam rifle shot went right through his chest and out the back. He was a goner and both he and Ricky knew it.

"Why?" was all Ricky could stammer out. Fal's mandibles twisted into what could go for a smile, "Because we are friends."

Fal raised his four digit hand feebly; Ricky held back his tears and grasped the Sangheili's hand, "Friends."

"Now go make that bastard pay, I'll see him in the afterlife to torment him more." Ricky nodded, and with that Fal' Cavamee died.

Zhar had attempted to kill the human after he shot the Elite, but he was out of ammo. "Of all the times," he cursed to himself as he got up and began sprinting. He would have to leave the area to find another weapon. "Damn and I was so close to thirty."

He came upon a catwalk that would lead him out of the factory, and stopped. The human sniper was there, a pistol in his hand.

Zhar quickly reached for the plasma pistol strapped to his side, but Ricky was faster. He fired a round right into the Jackals chest but it was still alive. Zhar clutched his chest in pain. Ricky slowly walked forward menacingly. Zhar began to panic and took a few steps back but he was blocked when he ran into the guardrail. He took a look back to see the hot liquid pit from before. He was scared, he turned back to see the human standing right in front of him. He looked up into the faceless helmet it wore.

"Have mercy," he pleaded. Ricky stood back and for a second Zhar thought he was being left alone. But then Ricky raised his boot and kicked the Jackal over the edge. Zhar screamed as he plummeted into the pit. He shrieked in pain as the liquid burned him and his skin began to peel away. Flames soon engulfed him and he sunk beneath the surface of the liquid with a final bubble. Zhar Man Slayer was no more.

Ricky watched it all with the calmness of a soldier; he looked up at the sky. Most of the clouds had cleared out and he could see the moon, "I sent him to you Fal, make hi m suffer." For a split second he could've sworn that he saw both Fal and Isabella's face in the moon.

**Author's Note****: I hope Zhar died in a painful enough of a way for you. Sorry I haven't updated for a while been busy lately, but with Thanksgiving coming up I should have some free time on my hands to write a couple more chapters over the long weekend. Anyways please ****REVIEW ** **and** **everyone have a happy Thanksgiving.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer****: For those of you, who see a resemblance between some of these chapters and the movie Enemies at the Gates, don't be alarmed. I have said multiple times before that this battle is reminiscent of the Battle of Stalingrad and I said I will be basing some things from Enemies at the gates.**

**Chapter Thirty Two**

**October 26, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System**

Lieutenant Dyke watched through his field binoculars as Flamer peppered the last of the Grunt sappers with machine gun fire. At least a dozen grunts and a few Jackals lay strew on and around the wire, dead as a door knob. The sappers had attempted to cut the field wire that had been set up there. Though the wires purpose was to slow the advancing enemy forces and it was beyond expendable, Dyke wasn't trying to have them cut before more Covenant got here.

1st and 2nd Platoon had since fallen back, leaving 2nd platoon to defend the three story apartment building, named "Dyke's House" by the men to his chagrin, by themselves. The covenant forces that had routed their sister platoons were more then likely to turn their attention to them soon.

Though the rest of his company fell back, Dyke couldn't blame them. He had heard over the short range COM radios the screams and confusion of the other men. They had been swarmed by hundreds of Covenant.

Dykes forces had dealt with a similar situation, but due to the fact he had an entire platoon dug in very hard within the apartment, they were able to hold out for over eighteen hours so far. They were supposed to hold the area until the rest of the strike force of Operation Tip of The Spear was able to get here. That was supposed to have been two hours ago. Due to Covenant jamming their COM they couldn't reach command to see what the hold up was. Dyke felt like they were all alone surrounded by Covenant on all sides. But his men had stuck with him since the beginning and he felt they were beginning to trust him.

"That seems to be the last of the sappers el tee," Flamer remarked, "But we seem to be running a little low on ammo."

"I know sergeant," He said honestly, "But we have no way to contact High command, use the enemies' weapons if you have to. He indicated to a pair of Covenant Carbines stacked up against the wall nearby. Flamer looked at it in disgust, but reluctantly agreed.

Eighteen hours of fighting had exhausted much of their ammo. Most of the men were on their last few clips. He had the men collect the weapons of the Covenant that had been killed inside and near enough to the apartment. A pile of Spiker rifles, Plasma rifles, Plasma pistols and even a Beam rifle lay at their disposal. Only to be used when a marine ran out of ammo. If they didn't get a supply drop soon, they would be screwed.

Dyke nodded and made his rounds to check up on the rest of his men. He walked to the stairs passing, sniper Private Mason. The private was armed with a SRS99 Anti- Material. The weapon was a tank killer and would be useful to knock a Wraith out.

Outside a light snow had fallen. This was rare for the month of October, but then again it didn't really matter. What mattered was the many Covenant that waited outside.

Dyke made his way downstairs passing other marines, who were resting and eating or watching out the windows for incoming Covenant. Some were drinking the last of their hot cocoa trying to stay warm in the 30 degree weather. He walked by Sgt Speirs and his men, they had been forced to abandon their mortar post and take up arms with the regular rank and file marines after their position had been bombed by Banshees on strafing runs.

That had been over six hours ago, but felt like an eternity. Most of them barely had any sleep for the whole time they were here; Dyke himself had only gotten two hours of sleep. They were tired and their dreary eyes and slouched forms were testament to that.

He could see the blank expression on some of their faces. _The thousand yard stare_.

He reached the first floor and instantly took in the tactical situation. The windows had been boarded up, only allowing enough room to act as a firing slit. The front door was broken down and had been hastily put back up to add some amount of defense. But it was a pointless thing; there were many holes that dotted the walls of the bottom floor. If…when the Covenant attacked it would a pretty indefensible position but his men would hold out as long as possible.

Dyke proceeded down into the basement. Down here was where he kept his injured marines. So far five had been injured enough to put them out of combat. Though many of them had said that they were fit to fight, Dyke said different and sent them to the basement, where the platoon Corpsman Private Coney was tending to them.

Coney turned and saluted as he approached, "Sir."

He put a hand up, "At ease Doc," he looked over at the marine she was tending to. He had his helmet off and a bloody wrap around his head, "What happened to him?"

Coney turned around and sighed, she turned back to the Lieutenant, "He was up on the second floor when a grenade went off near his head, couple tiny pieces of shrapnel lodged into his head. I was able to remove most but a few still remain."

Dyke knelt down in front of the marine. His nametag read Adams. "Hey marine, how ya feeling?" Adams opened his crusted eyes slowly, "Never been better El- tee."

"That's good to hear marine, now you get some rest," Adams nodded and drifted back into sleep. Dyke stood up and looked over the other injured marines, to his surprise a few of the woman civilians were helping them redress their wraps or giving them water.

Coney stood next to him, motioning to the act, "They've been a lot of help El-tee, looks like they really want to play their part."

Dyke smiled, "I hope so, I feel we might need every able body we can get."

He went back up stairs and spotted his radio man, Private Webb, sitting by his PR52 radio. "Webb any luck contacting HQ?"

Webb shook his head, "Negative El- tee, can't break through this entire damn covenant jamming shit." Dyke nodded, "Keep trying."

He went upstairs to where Sergeant Pavlov and his squad of three were resting watching wearily outside. He walked up next to the Sergeant, "Lovely weather we are having eh Sergeant?"

Pavlov was a Russian born marine. He had the heavy beard and moustache. He even kept his own Ushanka fur hat for when nit got cold just like it was now. He had said it was a family uniform that every man in his family wore into combat when they were in the military. It had been like this since World War II five hundred years ago.

He was Dykes most trusted ally and he knew he could count on the man in a tight situation.

"Aye, it is comrade," he said in his thick accent, "Reminds me of the homeland."

Dyke smiled, "Do you miss your home a lot, Sarge?" Pavlov laughed a gruff laugh, "Aye do I ever, me mom's home cooking and a nice warm home in Moscow, beats the hell outta being in this cold dark apartment trading potshots with the Covenant."

Dyke chuckled, "I guess when you put it that way it anyone would miss home." Pavlov turned to his commanding officer, "What about you El-Tee, what about your home?"

Dyke looked out into the grayness of the sky, "Nah Pavlov, that's a story I'm going to save for a rainy day with the wife."

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System **

Dractus was losing his cool and his subordinates were noticing this. War Chieftain Pacceus stood with the other few leaders left that weren't dead or out in the field. With the death of Cerberus and his failed attempt on the human base, and the death of his best sniper Dractus was becoming more impatient.

"So Lepidus' forces fell in battle?" The high Chieftain remarked with a menacing tone. None of the other brutes present wanted to answer; they shuffled uncomfortably trying not to enrage their Chief any more. And they had good reason to.

Dractus was a huge Brute and his Crimson armor and giant war hammer was enough to quell any beast even other Brutes. Pacceus realized he was going to have to answer, "Um yes sir, we found him and his men's body under a pile of rubble not to far away from here, we also found Unggoy dead at the scene too."

Dractus' eyebrow raised, "Unggoy? They weren't part of the death squad."

"Right sir, that's what we thought too," Pacceus went on, "We think they were collaborating with the Sangheili and his human pets."

"Now we have Unggoy rebels eh?" Pacceus nodded, "This whole battle is getting undesirable."

"Sir?" Pacceus said with a confused expression on his face. But Dractus simply waved it off, "How are the _Jirake _forces doing south of here, I heard a company sized human forces attacked their position."

Pacceus nodded, "Yes, Captain Fenius and his forces were attacked by a human strike force, but they have routed most of them already, but there is still a small force garrisoned in a building that is giving our men hell."

"What do you mean, the _Jirake_ forces number well over three hundred, they should be able to kill a small band of humans." Pacceus rubbed the back of his head, "normally they would, but these humans are becoming a thorn in their side, they won't budge from the damn building."

Dractus slammed his fist on his chair, "Then send more forces, I want the 3rd Jiralhanae Shock troops thrown into the mix."

"But sir that's overkill, and I have heard from our intelligence forces that the humans are about to mount a massive offensive. We shouldn't spread our forces this thin just to kill a small number of humans."

"These humans defy my power by living, I want them eradicated and I want their leaders head on a stick" Dractus was shouting now, spittle was flying with each pronunciation.

Pacceus made eye contact with a few of the others, they nodded, he turned to his leader, "It will be done my lord." Though deep down on the inside he knew this was a disastrous plan. With so many of their forces committed to kill these humans defending a small apartment, he knew if the humans were mounting this new offensive then they were in a lot of trouble.

Dractus was losing his mind and he would have to do something soon, or they were all going to die.

**Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System**

"Here they come!" Sergeant Pavlov shouted ducking just as a beam rifle round seared over his head.

The Covenant had mounted another attack. This one was with many grunts and Jackals lead by a hand full of brutes. They were also supported by a Wraith tank. They were coming from all sides and the twenty odd marines of 2nd Platoon, Easy Covenant were giving it all they got.

Pavlov raised his BR and fired off to burst from the gun scoring two head shots on the squat aliens. But this did little to quell the attack. There was still dozens more. The marines fought on with all they got. Lead and plasma filled the air as the two sides exchanged fire. The white snow soon became a rainbow of color as the Loyalist blood was splattered on it.

Dyke fired his MA5C downing a jackal before it could react. Above him he heard tell tale boom of Private Masons SRS99AM as he fired on the Wraiths. With a well aimed shot he took out the Brute manning the tanks plasma turret. The anti material rounds tore into the Wraith. He must have got lucky and hit the driver with one of those shots because the Wraith suddenly powered down and descended into the snow.

"El-tee" Dyke turned around to see Webb waving his arms motioning for the Lieutenant to come to him. "Take care of things here," he said to Pavlov. The Sergeant nodded and resumed killing.

Dyke ran over to where Webb was talking into his radio, "What is it Webb?"

The Private could barely contain his excitement as he held the phone part of the radio up to Dyke, "It's HQ, I've gotten a hold of HQ!" Dyke grabbed the phone and spoke into it, "This is Lieutenant Dyke of Easy Company, command do you read me?"

There was static but then he heard a voice, _"El-tee this is Colonel Winters, how's it going son?" _

"Not to well Colonel, we are being besieged by the Covenant and our sister platoons have been forced to fall back. We are all alone out here, where are our reinforcements?"

"_We are working on mobilizing our forces,"_ Winters responded, _"We are running a little behind on schedule."_

"Well while you guys just sit there on your asses, I got men fighting and dying here" Dyke shouted. He was surprised at his sudden anger. "Sorry Colonel didn't mean to yell."

"_It is okay son, I know you are under a lot of stress, we have a resupply drop getting ready to head your way with ammo and more weapons."_

"Thank you sir we will be looking out for it," With that Dyke cut the COM. He turned back to Webb, "Stand by just in case they call again." Dyke made his way back to where Pavlov and his men were.

"So what is the skinny?" Pavlov asked as he put a round through a brutes head. "We got a Resupply drop coming in a few; keep an eye out for it." Pavlov nodded and they all resumed killing.

**Echo** **Base **

"We are working on mobilizing our forces," Winters said trying to sound as sincere as possible, "We are running a little behind on schedule."

"_Well while you guys just sit there on your asses, I got men fighting and dying here"_ Dyke shouted over the COM. Winters was surprised, Dyke was usually a model commander and he never usually cracked under pressure. He and his men must be going through hell over there. Dykes voice came back over the COM, _"Sorry Colonel didn't mean to yell."_

"It is okay son, I know you are under a lot of stress, we have a resupply drop getting ready to head your way with ammo and more weapons."

"_Thank you sir we will be looking out for it," _The COM cut off then. Winters rubbed his brows together. He had given the go ahead on the start of Operation _Tip of the Spear. _His men sent out in massive units pushing back smaller then expected forces, but then he had heard that much of the Loyalist forces were moving towards midtown where Lieutenant Dyke and his men were held out. If Winters didn't know any better he would've thought that the Covenant were sending all their forces just to defeat Dyke and his thirty or so men, "What is the hold up with our forces getting out those men?"

It was Captain Howell of Dread Contingent that answered, "Sir we have mobilized much of our armor but we ran into a slight problem."

Winters looked up at the African American Tank commander, "How slight?"

"It appears much of our equipment and vehicles are damaged beyond reasonable repair. We have been fighting so hard these past few days and we have been pushing our vehicles to their limit that they are starting to break down," Howell responded.

"Well why can't we repair them?" Winters inquired. "We are in the process of that sir but unless we get like super mechanics that can repair our vehicles in minutes then we are stuck going at the speed we are at now."

Also present was Field Marshall Kasamee. The elite's eyebrow rose at the notion of a mechanic that could repair in seconds. "If you don't mind my interruption Colonel. I might have a suggestion."

Winters looked over at the Elite, "Go for it Field Marshall, we are all open to suggestions."

Cur nodded and looked over the holo map of Manhattan. He pointed to a spot near where the Core World Bank Building was located, "If you recall a few days ago you said that a Covenant CCS- class Battlecruiser crashed here."

Winters nodded, "Yea it was taking down by a MAC slug."

"Yes and you said that it was grounded but still operational," Winters nodded, Cur continued on, "If I know the Jiralhanae and I do, they would be attempting to repair that ship."

"With them having only a few ships committed to this battle they would need all the ships they can get," Winters concluded.

Cur smiled, glad that his human companion was catching on, "Correct and you know what they are using to repair that ship…"

Tano, who was standing nearby, burst out, "The Huragok!" Cur smiled, "Correct my brother."

Winters looked confused, "What's a Huragok?"

"Your kind calls them Engineers."

Winters got it now. The Engineers were the Covenants version of a mechanic. They could repair almost anything with the cilia like tendrils that protruded from their tentacles. "Oh I get it now; those Engineers can help repair the vehicles."

"Correct my friend, all we have to do is go to the ship and _borrow _a few of the Huragok," Cur said finalizing the plan.

Captain Van Zandt stepped forward, "Sir request permission to lead this op with my ODST?" Winters looked surprised, "Why the sudden need for combat Captain?"

Van Zandt smirked, "Ever since we came into Manhattan I've been sitting on the sidelines watching my men and others fight for their lives. And since getting these Engineers will help save Dyke and his men, I want a chance to play my part."

Winters smiled, "Well then permission granted Captain, get your men ready and you guys are to leave in twenty minutes."

Tano stepped forward, "I want to go to. Our familiarity with the Ship and the Huragok will be needed."

"Right, I am giving the go ahead on this mission, you will get those Engineers and we will save Dyke and his men." Van Zandt stared at the Specs Op elite who was missing his lower left mandible. Tano caught sight of this and nodded. Van Zandt returned the nod. _Finally some action._

Flight Officer Ripley swaggered over to her Pelican the _Lucky Betty. _She walked pass the paint job on the cockpit of a female marine in a seductive pose. In the rear of the dropship her Co pilot Petty officer Jackson and another marine were placing the final of the resupply canisters in their spot under the Pelicans thruster.

Upon noticing her approach, Jackson turned and saluted, "Ma'am." She nodded, "Jackson, the resupply canisters in place?"

"Yes ma'am," Jackson said, waving goodbye to the marine that helped him put them on, "Looks like we got another sortie to run."

Ripley nodded and proceeded into her bird, followed closely by Jackson. She took her seat in the front of the Pelican, while Jackson sat in the co pilots' seat behind and to the left of her. She placed on her ballistic helmet with the golden visors.

"Running a flight check," Jackson said. They made sure all their controls were running and everything was working. The _Lucky Betty _ascended off of the landing pad. And hesitated for a moment to compensate for the extra weight on it. With that done Ripley guided it in the direction of Midtown and Lieutenant Dykes men.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty Three**

**October 26, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System**

Dyke and the rest of 2nd platoon had been able to repel the Covenants attack. The remaining Loyalist had taken cover in the multiple craters surrounding the apartment. The snow covered ground was littered with dozens of grunt, jackal and brute bodies. More then once a brave marine would run out from under cover of the building and kick down part of the pile of dead Covenant corpses, to allow room for the other marines to fire.

The marines hadn't faired to well either. They were down to about fifteen from the original Thirty. They had about nine dead and six wounded. Dyke and Pavlov observed the battlefield from the third story.

"Looks like ze Covenant have fallen back," Pavlov remarked as he peered through his field binoculars. Dyke discarded the Beam Rifle he was using. He had been forced to use the weapon after he had run out of ammo for his MA5C. Now the weapon too was out of charge and useless to him.

"Thank god," Dyke breathed a sigh of relief, "I just ran outta ammo too."

"Same with most of the Platoon, we have been forced to start using the Covenants weapons."

"I know," Dyke grimaced, "Where is HQ and that damn resupply drop they promised us?" Pavlov didn't answer however; he was too busy peering through his binoculars at an approaching object. A smile cracked across his lips, "I think it's here sir."

Dyke grabbed the binoculars and peered out into the gray sky. He smiled as well, "Well I'll be damned."

Flight Officer Ripley gunned the Pelicans engines towards the approaching apartment complex. Smoke, dead bodies and destroyed chaises of vehicles dotted the area around the building.

"Damn looks like these guys have been busy," Petty officer Jackson remarked. Ripley keyed her COM, "Lieutenant Dyke, this is Flight Officer Ellen Ripley of the _Lucky Betty_, we are coming in. are we clear for approach?"

"_Roger, Ripley, just come in from the south west," _Dyke said over the COM before adding, _"I have a lot of wounded here Flight Officer, do you think you can pull them out too."_

Ripley shared a glance with Jackson, who shook his head; she then took a glance out the cockpit, "Negative El tee LZ is too hot, we aren't even going to be able to land. We are just going to drop the capsules and we got to bug out."

She heard Dyke swear before he responded, _Alright then come in for a landing, I'll have my sniper cover you._"

"Roger Lieutenant," she guided the Pelican up and around the apartment, swinging around for her best approach.

Outside, in one of the many craters, a Brute Major observed the Pelican coming in. He turned to two Unggoy Ultras armed with Fuel Rod Guns, "Take that thing down."

The pair of grunts nodded before fumbling to get their heavy weapons onto their shoulders. They both fired one after the other. The last grunt actually fell over with the force of the blast. The green volatile projectiles flew up at the now stabilizing Pelican.

"Incoming!" Dyke shouted, but Ripley had already kicked the Pelican tail out, swerving it around to avoid the projectiles.

The first streaked by, missing but bathing the Pelican in an ominous green light.

The second however found its mark, leaping up from underneath the Pelican. It slammed into the belly of the craft gutting it, but they still hung in the air.

"_Alright I think we are stabilized," _less then a second later a third round from the Fuel rod slammed into its tail. The bird began to swivel around in a slow moving circle; "_I've lost control in the petals."_

"Can you bring her down gently?" Dyke shouted over the COM. "_Hell no! We are going down." _

"о мой бог," Pavlov muttered in his own language.

The pelican swiveled around a couple more times before it landed out of view of the marines in the apartment, though they could see the smoke and part of the wreckage.

"Damn!" Dyke shouted. Pavlov looked through his binoculars and said, "I think that the Pelican went down in that ditch we were in yesterday." Dyke took the binoculars and looked out over the vast landscape, "You're right."

He gave the binoculars back to his sergeant and said, "Pavlov, take Chen, Dietrich, and Woods and get to that crash site. Check if there are any survivors and check if any of the supplies made it."

"Sure, it's just a whole Covenant Company between us and the crash site, but I'm sure they won't mind us taking a stroll through their lines to get there," The Russian said sarcastically.

Dyke rolled his eyes, "There is a small trench about fifty meters to the east. If you stay low you should be able to get out there without being spotted and in no time."

Pavlov sighed, "Yea we will get it done." He turned and proceeded downstairs motioning for Chen, Dietrich and Woods to follow him.

"God speed," he muttered after they had departed.

Ripley opened her eyes slowly. The first thing she noticed was the cracked window shield in front of her and her throbbing headache. She turned groggily to her co pilot who was lying with his head limp to the side, "Jackson… Jackson you there man?" She got no response, "damn."

She looked up and saw that her Pelican had landed nose first into a ditch. She made to move out of her seat but was met with an excruciating pain in her left leg, "Aw fuck that hurts like a son of a bitch." She regretted yelling out in pain a moment later.

Over the lip of the ditch came a pair of Grunts and a Jackal. "Damn," she muttered to herself as the aliens approached her cockpit window. She slowly reached down for the M7 located next to her seat. It was to be used by down pilots in case of enemy contact- just like what she was in now.

The first grunt noticed her, but too late. She aimed and fired a burst from her weapon into the squat aliens face. Its head snapped back followed by a gush of blue blood. As it dropped into the ditch, its two comrades fired.

Plasma splashed all around her. A shot had actually hit her in the shoulder, but hadn't burned through the armor. She returned fire as best as she could, but the enemy had the luxury of mobility on their side.

"Damn it all," she cursed to herself as she fumbled to reload her gun. All the while more Covenant had joined the fray. At least three more jackals and twice that grunts were now surrounding her crash site. She knew she couldn't hold out that long and was as good as done.

Suddenly one of the Jackals made a squawking sound and fell forward dead into the ditch. _What the hell. I didn't do that, _she thought as she fired more. Another grunt got the top of its head blown away and another fell over with rounds through its next.

Suddenly four UNSC marines hopped over the trench lip firing as they did. They landed in front of her cockpit. One of them, a sergeant wearing a fur cap, turned a peered through the hole in her cockpit. "We got a survivor," he shouted turning to the others, "Chen and Woods get back there and get her out."

Two of the marines turned from the firefight and proceeded to _leap_ up onto the top of her bird. She heard them pounding up there as they made their way to the rear. It was a few seconds later when one of them, a Chinese marine, appeared next to her.

"Ma'am if you don't mind?" he said motioning to her chest. She understood and nodded. The Chinese marine then grabbed her gently around the waist just under her breastplate and pulled her up. She grimaced as her leg was lodged free from its constraint.

The marine actually flung her over his shoulder and proceeded to leave the cockpit, she noticed Jackson limp form and said, "Wait, my co pilot we need to get his tags."

Chen turned to his comrade who was gathering a few weapons from the supply capsules that made it, "Woods can you get this guys tags and hand a few of those guns to Woods and the Sarge."

"Right," the marine known as Woods said as he made his way into the cockpit. Chen carried Ripley outside and around the Pelican to the front. The Russian marine and the other one were holding their own, but the Covenant was getting reinforced by the minute.

The Russian turned, "Chen get her back to the house, and we will cover you."

She never heard what her escort said after as she fainted again.

She awoke sometime later. The first thing she saw was a bright light but soon three figures were outlined in front of her face. As they came into focus she noticed the Chinese marine that got her out, then she saw the Russian sergeant and she saw a corpsman next to her.

"She's coming to El-Tee," The Russian sergeant said talking to someone outside of her view. She heard footsteps approaching and turned to see a handsome (Albeit dirty) young marine walking over to her.

He extended a hand, "Flight Officer Ripley, I am Lieutenant Richard Dyke." She took his hand and d shook it.

He smiled with his most sincere smile and said, "Welcome to Dykes House."

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System **

A large smile cracked across Dractus' dry face. The High Chieftain hadn't eaten or slept in the last forty eight hours. He had been to busy overseeing the action that took place in what his troops now referred to as "the Cauldron."

The Cauldron was the mile long human apartment buildings that the humans have taken a substantial foothold in. Right now he had dedicated an entire legion to eradicating the human filth there. By doing this, however, he had lost valuable territory from the human's new offensive. And now his troops in the Cauldron were now surrounded on all sides except for one.

Despite his war advisors telling him he should cut his losses and pull out that legion to reinforce the LZ, which they knew the humans would eventually attack within the next couple days. He would have nothing of the sort and said that if the humans ever did attempt to take their landing zone and his ships he would just revert to using plan "Sigma." None of them but Dractus really knew what this plan was, but they knew it involved the large number of humans being held in the stadium on the opposite side of their LZ.

Most of his Brute subordinates now gave their chieftain a wide berth, trying not to be that one person that pisses him off. Dractus knew they called him crazy, but he could care less. All that mattered to him was the extermination of the humans in this city.

Unknown to the Chieftain, Pacceus was striking a deal that would lead to his ultimate demise.

**Authors Note****: Hope you guys liked that one. This fic is slowly rolling into its final ten chapters or so. And if my calculations are correct I should be done sometime by mid to late January. So I'll keep posting and you guys keep reading and also please review, I feel lately I'm lacking on reviews or maybe I'm just being paranoid, but whatever review anyways.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer****: So publishing this son of a gun fan fic would be nice, but I honestly did this for fun. And besides, I don't think you are even allowed to do that. It seems like it is copywriting. Any ways here is the next chapter of the fic, enjoy.**

**Chapter Thirty Four **

**October 26, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Near downed Covenant Cruiser), Earth, Sol System**

"Jeez, it smells like ass mixed with crap down here!"

"Well we are in the sewers, people do shit down here," retorted Emiliene smartly. The other ODST, Private Dutch Taylor, looked at her curtly, "You know what smartass, you can go fuck yourself."

"Juan's already doing that," Sergeant Reco responded. This got a bunch of 'oh's' from the other ODST and a "Go to hell," from Juan.

Captain Van Zandt led the group through the sewers of Manhattan. When the Elite Field Marshall had come up with the idea to use the Engineers to fix all the disabled and damaged vehicles currently in their possession, Van Zandt jumped at the chance to lead the mission.

He had been given permission, but had to bring along the SpecOps Elites as guides. Though he didn't mind. Unlike most of the other ODST's he didn't really care if the Elites were on their side. As long as they won this battle and eventually this war, he could careless is the Elites had been their enemies for almost three decades. They weren't now.

So they had left shortly after midday and headed out into the bewildered city. Manhattan had become a forest of destroyed timber and metal. So many streets were clogged with either debris or derelict cars that transversing through the street was tough. So Van Zandt had come up with the idea of using the sewer systems to move around faster. And here they were four and a half hours later.

"Do human always bicker like this?" One of the Elites, Verkut, asked inquiringly to Emiliene. She chuckled and said, "Only the males."

Verkut shook his head, "You all are one peculiar species." They sloshed through the grime and muck of the worst place to be in Manhattan —well second worst if you count being in the visiting teams' hotel after the New York Raiders lost a Thrashball game—but this was close.

They all smelled like crap and they were pretty sure they were sloshing through some of it at the moment. Their armor was filthy. The flashlight on the trooper's weapons was the only shining down here. The rest was pitch black.

There was a groan from the back of the group, "Ugh are we there yet?" Van Zandt rolled his eyes, while another ODST answered, "For the Umpteenth time Taylor, no."

"Well we should be," Taylor muttered back. He and the other ODST began to bicker back and forth. This is how it had been for the past hour or so. They had been wandering down here so long his soldiers were become restless. He wished that they could've been as cool and content as the SpecOps Elites. He turned back and watched the dark armored Elites move almost silently through the water, practically invisible down here. He eyed their leader, Tano 'Zorahee. The Elite was the definition of a badass. With his missing mandible and multiple battle scars, Van Zandt knew he was a veteran. Sadly though he was probably a veteran of many battles against the humans. But he could let that slide. All he needed right now was the Elites fighting prowess and his knowledge of Covenant ships.

Besides him there were eleven other ODST with him. Gunnery Sergeant Fenix had taken his usual squad to rescue a small group of civilians held up in the Nearby Police Station. They had left shortly before he had, and he was sure the Gunny would've wanted to go on a mission with as much importance as this one but he would just have to wait till next time.

A smile crept across the Captains face. The last time he had seriously been in any action had been during the attack on Liberty Hospital all those days ago. Since then he had been stuck in the position as the Colonels war advisor. He had to watch as countless numbers of men and women were killed while he just sat in the command center waiting. He had done enough waiting and it was finally his turn to bleed for his men. And he was going to do that by raiding this Covenant Cruiser and getting those Engineers then he was going to save the men of Easy Company.

Taylor and the other ODST still bickered on. Van Zandt couldn't take it anymore.

"Cut the chatter!" he and Tano shouted in unison. He stared at his Covenant counterpart and nodded. The elite returned the nod.

"Sir might I suggest checking your TACMAP," Sergeant Reco said swaggering up next to him. Van Zandt nodded and checked the Tactical Map within his VISR HUD. He brought up the schematics of the sewer system and located the spot where they would have to surface. He marked it with a NAV marker so that all the others could see it.

"Just another half click in this direction," he said pointing forward. The group moved on forward eager to get out of the rotten sewer.

They came to a rusted ladder. Van Zandt looked up to spot a manhole at the top of the ladder. "Ladies first," Emiliene said shrugging the Captain out of the way. She placed her MA5C on the magnetic plates on the back of her armor and grabbed the first rung. She began climbing vigorously until she reached the top. She lifted the manhole as quietly as she could and peeked through.

It was a moment before she turned back down and called to Van Zandt, "Captain, you better come take a look at this." Van Zandt nodded and began climbing. Emiliene made room as the older ODST came up and peered over the rim.

He let out a silent gasp. The downed ship lay no more then two hundred yards away from their current location. It lay there in a heap of metal and debris. The outside looked fine. Just some large dents and a huge gash across the mid section of the ship, from where the MAC slug hit. But he knew that on the inside the ship had taken some damage. Multiple corridors had been caved in impeding the process of the Huragok engineers and the repulsor engine had been severely damaged causing the ship to be grounded.

Outside of the ship a few guard towers were stationed with an Unggoy sentry in each. Flood lights had been erected atop the nearby buildings to shine down on the ground around the downed cruiser.

"Well looks like we are in the right place," Van Zandt muttered to himself. He slid down the rungs while Emiliene closed the manhole.

"What is it human?" Tano asked as he got to the bottom. "It's the cruiser, it's down but the brutes definitely set up some defenses around the place."

"Multiple Guard towers with grunt heavy gunners," Tano guessed. Van Zandt was almost speechless that the Elite knew that, "Yea how'd you know?"

Tano chuckled, "Basic defenses for when we have to temporarily guard a position. I am surprised that the brutes still utilize it."

"So what do we do?" Emiliene inquired. "Chaku get up here," Tano shouted to one of his specialist elites. A lean but muscular Elite, wielding a beam rifle and plasma rifle, swaggered up to his leader saluting, "Yes sir?"

Tano whispered something in the Elites own language. Chaku nodded and scurried up the ladder, albeit with some difficulty as the elite's anatomy made it hard for them to climb ladders, hence why they use grav lifts all the time.

Van Zandt watched as Chaku carefully raised the manhole cover and slid his beam rifle over the rim. He fired ten times in ten seconds. "All clear," he said after the allotted time.

"Well let us get to that ship," Tano said grabbing hold of the rungs and lifting himself up. Van Zandt waited until everyone else got to the top before he too went up the ladder. He was helped over the rim by two burly ODST. He thanked them and looked up. He was surprised to see that not only were all the guard towers free of grunt gunners but all the spotlights had been knocked out as well.

"Damn," he muttered to the ODST next to him, "Those Elites sure are deadly." The Helljumper laughed and patted his Captain on his back.

Under the pitch black cover of darkness eighteen figures sprinted across the open ground between them and the Covenant Cruiser. There still had been no reaction to the outer defenses being knocked out and that bothered Van Zandt.

"What if it is an ambush?" he asked Tano as they stacked up on the hull of the ship. "Then we spring the trap," was Tano's reply, he then turned to the assembled joint force; "We will split up in teams of three. One Sangheili leading two ODST." There was a grumbled response as everyone got into order.

Five minutes later Captain Van Zandt was atop the cruiser with Private Taylor and the Elite Verkut. "How will we enter?" asked Taylor, pointing out the obvious lack of entry points.

"Easy," Replied Verkut. He activated his energy sword and plunged it into the hull of the ship. He slowly made a circle that was just big enough for him to fit through. After it was complete the elite hopped down followed by the two ODST.

Inside it was purple, all of it. "What is your guy's fascination with the color purple?" inquired Taylor as the Elite led them down a narrow corridor. "You know," retorted Verkut, "I never really asked myself that, just went with it." Van Zandt chuckled while Taylor simply rolled his eyes.

The eighteen combatants had split into six teams of three. They infiltrated the ship through multiple entry points all over the cruiser. They were to find and capture any engineers they came across and eliminate any enemy combatants they found.

Verkut lead the two Helljumpers down the corridor and stopped outside a door. "We usually keep the Huragok in rooms like these when they are off duty." He walked up to the door. With a hiss the door slid open to reveal an interesting sight.

Around a dozen grunts were fast asleep in the room. Methane leaking out of the sides of the mouths as they snored. "Wrong room," Verkut smiled. He unhooked a plasma grenade and flung it into the room. He stepped back just as the thing went off. The door closed just as the chain explosion went off.

They continued on down the hall towards the engine room. There they hoped to find a few Huragok working on the damaged engine. Along the way they took out a few Jackal and Grunt patrols. Oddly they hadn't run into one Brute yet. From transmissions over the COM he had heard that the other teams had only ran into a few brutes here and there. Where the hell were all the brutes?

They came around a corner and were proceeding down a corridor when they heard gunshots and shouting. A second later two ODST and a SpecOps elite came bursting around the corner firing at an unseen foe. One of the ODST spotted the trio, "Fall back we got a good two dozen grunts and Jackals on our ass!"

The other ODST and SpecOps Elite came up next to them and took firing positions. "To late," The SpecOps Elite said. A good twenty or so Grunts and Jackals came around the corner firing plasma pistols, needlers and some even had spike rifles.

The six of them took up firing positions and soon a firefight erupted.

Tano 'Zorahee and his two ODST comrades Emiliene and Juan skulked into the hanger of the cruiser. Multiple Phantoms and Banshees lay parked throughout the hangar. Dozens of Grunts and Jackals walked about going about their business. But it wasn't the Grunts and Jackals that caught Tano's attention; it was the floating creatures that caught his eye.

The Huragok have small heads with six dark eyes, and four tentacles that can split into very small, near-microscopic cilia. The Engineers use these cilia to construct, repair, or rebuild nearly anything they can grasp. They can take apart whole vehicles and rearrange their entire structure in a matter of seconds, with the resulting machines still operating at least as well as they did before. This made them a vital mechanic of sorts for anyone who owned them.

"We need to knock out those patrols," Tano told his human companions, "You stay here and cover me." Emiliene nodded, "Good luck."

Tano activated his camo and stalked out into the open. None of the lesser Covenant species spotted him however. Emiliene watched in fascination as the Elite simply slit the throat of a Jackal. She had actually lost track of him at one point, only knowing where he was by the trail of dead bodies he left behind. Somehow not one of the enemies had spotted their comrades being assassinated and soon the whole hangar was clear. The Huragok simply floated around doing maintenance checks on all the aerial vehicles as if nothing had happened.

"This is Specialist 'Zorahee, I have located a sufficient amount of Huragok to accomplish our mission, all teams report to the hangar at the center of the ship. Emiliene and Juan joined the Elite in the open space admiring the Huragoks up close.

One of them floated near Juan causing him to stumble back and trip. The alien approached him and raised one of its tentacles. The tentacle split into multiple fine cilia. The thing grabbed hold of Juan's arm and did a quick movement with the tentacle cilia. In the time it took to blink the thing had fixed his arm guards, which had been broken days ago during their insertion into the city.

The thing then simply floated on looking for more stuff to fix. Juan admired his newly fixed arm guard, "Wow those jellyfish really know how to fix stuff, they must've fixed this shit in like a half second."

Emiliene smiled helping up her friend, "Honey you should be thankful, I thought for a second he was going to eat you." Tano chuckled from behind them, "I don't even think the Huragok need to eat, they just recharge in our recharge stations."

It was a few minutes before all fifteen other people could get to the Hangar. Van Zandt strolled up to Tano, "Looks like we got a nice number of the engies to fix our vehicles."

Tano nodded, "Aye we do now we just need to get them out of here." Van Zandt smiled, "I got that covered," he turned to the assembled men and women, "Troopers we need to get these alien jellyfish the hell outta here, gather the up double time!"

There was an assortment of yessirs and the ODST and Elites got to gathering the Huragok up. This was easier said then done as The Huragok were very nimble and could float out of range of the gatherers. Some of the ODST had to climb atop Phantoms to get the high fliers.

But after about ten minutes they were able to group together the Eleven Huragok present. "Alright lets get them out of here," Van Zandt ordered. No sooner had he said that then the doors to the hangar opened up. Over a dozen Brutes and at least twice that many grunts and Jackals poured into the hangar. A firefight erupted. One ODST was hit in the shoulder but shrugged it off. Sadly two of the Huragok had been hit. The jellyfish like aliens made loud screeching sounds before they popped like a balloon.

"Fall back!" Tano shouted over the din. The procession began falling back and firing attempting to cover the remaining Huragok as best as they could. They left through the hangar and back into the field, the Loyalist right on their tail.

Suddenly three spotlights; that had been previously missed due to the fact they hadn't been on, activated nearly blinding the group in a shroud of light. Van Zandt risked a glimpse to his left and wished he hadn't. Scores of loyalist were pouring out of the surrounding buildings making a beeline straight for them.

He got it now. The Covenant had somehow anticipated a attack and set a trap. That's why there had been little to no Brutes on the ship the rest were waiting in ambush. The volume of fire intensified. It was like a hailstorm of plasma. The Loyalist made no attempt to regard the Huragok within their mist.

They must've had a guardian angel watching over them because they somehow made it to the manhole they had come from. While some of the ODST got the Huragok safely down into the sewer, the rest of the troopers and the Elites covered them from up above. It seemed their luck ran out. One trooper was hit in the leg and thrown back into the manhole. He landed with a thud at the bottom. He was alive but wounded. Another trooper had to carry him on his back. The rest of the troops dropped down into the sewer, the Elites close on their heels.

They proceeded down the dark tunnel with only their VISRs and the Elites keen vision to lead them. They were progressing fairly slow as many of the troopers had been injured in someway or the other. The barks and howls of the brutes could be heard not too far behind them. "We aren't going to make it," cried out a panicked Taylor.

Van Zandt was surprised. Taylor usually never cracked under pressure. The trooper was usually stoic and calm, but now he was fidgety taking a look back every few seconds as if the Brutes were right behind him. Which in a way they were.

"We are going to make it Private," Van Zandt reassured, "We just can't stop moving." Tano shook his head; he knew that the humans were moving to slow to outrun the brutes. There was only one thing he could do.

He made eye contact with Uso and nodded. The other SpecOps Elite returned the nod and looked over at Chaku, he nodded too. The SpecOps Elites all stopped in their tracks. It had taken Van Zandt a couple seconds to realize they had stopped. The ODST Captain turned around, "Tano what are you doing? Let's go."

Tano turned his head slightly and said, "You guys go, we will slow them down." Van Zandt shook his head and began to walk towards the elites, "Oh no your not, not without me you aren't."

Tano whirled around snarling at the human stopping him in his tracks, "Leave human, this is personal business." Van Zandt nodded and began to turn back. Before he did he stopped and said, "Good luck." With that he led the rest of the troopers and Huragok away to safety.

Tano turned back around, he could make out the shadows of the Brutes fast approaching, their growls and snarls evident, he began to address his men, "My fellow warriors...no my brothers, we have been betrayed by the brutes and Prophets. We shall have our revenge on the Brutes now. I wish I could've had gone down with my hands around a prophets neck, but I guess a brute will have to do. I know that many of you would've preferred a much more honorable death then fighting down here in this wretched rotten place, but as long as you die fighting your honor shall praise your family for multiple generations to come, now who is ready?"

A chorus of roars came up form the five other Sangheili. Tano turned to the approaching horde, "For SANGHEILOIS!" his comrades yelled out the return, "For Sanghelios!" The brutes came around the corner snarling and thrashing like a pack of wild untamed animals. They fired all assortments of weapons.

They filled up the space of the sewer from end to end. Chaotic blurts of Spiker shots whisked ineffectually through the air above their heads. Tano simply side stepped simply shots.

"No surrender!" The Six SpecOps Elites raised their weapons and returned fire. Multiple Brutes and grunts fell in the muck never to rise again. Their shields flared as multiple rounds impacted them but for the most part they were holding up.

Next to Tano, Chaku took a plasma charge to the chest knocking out his shield, immediately followed by a spiker round through the neck. The Elite sighed and fell. Tano reached down to help him up but realized he was dead. Another SpecOps soldier fell and then another, until it was only Verkut, Uso and himself left.

The Brutes were becoming more distorted and animal like. They flew into a blind rage, some running straight into a hail of fire and some running on all fours.

With reflexes that seemed unnatural Tano grabbed and activated his energy sword. The twin prongs flew into life as he rested the sword next to his side. He took a deep breath and flung himself into the fray.

The Jiralhanae were taken aback at first at the Elites speed. He flew into their midst like some sort of phantom. He slashed and hacked. Slicing bone and limbs and heads clean off. The Brutes regained their morale and charged the Elite. Tano backed out into the open where he had more room to move. Out of his perihelia vision he spotted Uso wielding what appeared to be a long pipe and next to him Verkut too had his energy sword out and was cutting the Loyalist to ribbons.

Tano faced forward and engaged the Brutes again. He was like water flowing through them slicing and dicing. He snapped one brute's neck, and then hacked off the head of a grunt. All the while he hadn't even been hit yet.

Tano caught glimpse of Verkut get hit in the leg. The elite lost his balance and fell, the brutes were all over him but the young SpecOps Sangheili stabbed and thrashed out with all his strength left; going down like a true warrior.

Uso soon too fell but with the last of his breath he activated two plasma grenades and flung himself into the surrounding Brutes. The resulting explosion threw everyone surrounding it into the air.

Tano was hit in the torso by a flailing grunt. He was knocked into the dirty water and nearly gagged by the smell. All around him dozens of Covenant corpses lay still never to move again.

Tano put his free hand down to push himself up and grasped a hold of something. He pulled it out of the water and realized that it was Chaku's Energy sword. His fallen brother was nowhere to be seen under the mass of corpses.

Tano stood up ready to face the many remaining brutes that were still left. Most of them had their wrist blades extended and were ready for a fight.

"Come on then," Tano roared out his challenge. As one the Brutes charged. Tano parried and slashed. Hacked and chopped. He was slashed himself multiple times in the midsection and more then once in the leg. He took a spiker round through the chest but was still standing. Many of the Brutes were bewildered. They had never fought something as hard as this Sangheili. It was like he couldn't be killed.

Tano stabbed out with his right arm, catching a brute in the neck. He felt a pain from his left arm and looked over to see it wasn't there anymore. A brute had sliced it off with its wrist blades. Tano hadn't even felt it because of all the adrenaline pumping through his body. He stabbed the offending brute in the chest and watched as it fell lifelessly to the floor.

The Sangheili backed up and hit the wall. He realized he was surrounded. There were at least a score of brutes still standing. They realized the Elite was on its last few moments of breath. Tano breathed heavily and his vision was becoming hazy. They charged again. This time Tano didn't even bother to try to stop them. He felt multiple stabs in his chest as the wrist blades tore into him.

He didn't scream out in agony or even register he was dying, he simply smiled and thought, _we gave them all we got, and that was enough to by the humans time. Farewell my brother Cur, I will see you in the afterlife._

With that Tano 'Zorahee, the leader of the Special Operations Division of the 3rd Shock Army, was dead.

**Echo Base**

The news of Tano and his SpecOps Elites death hit Cur hard. Tano was like a brother to him for most of his life and now that his brother was gone he questioned his need for living. There were only around a dozen Sangheili left on the base alive; the rest had perished in the week's long battle.

Cur strolled over to the observation deck of the Elephant Command Center. Outside the humans were mobilizing for a massive attack. The ODST had brought back the Huragok and the creatures quickly got to fixing the humans vehicles. Most of the Armadillo APC's had already been fixed, along with a good number of the warthogs and tanks. Now almost every available soldier; including the last few of his Sangheili were mounting up on the multiple vehicles, that would be taking them over to midtown to relieve the besieged marines of Easy Company.

"I want Hornets on deck running strafing runs all night until the Convoy gets there," Colonel Winters told his orderly. As the young Private relayed the order to the flight airmen, Winters looked over at the sulking Elite.

Winters would have never expected to see a Elite sulk or look sad, but here was one right in his presence. He sighed and made his way over to Cur. He placed a weary hand on Curs shoulder, "He was a good warrior, they all were, and their sacrifice shall not be in vain."

Cur turned his head slowly and muttered, "Sacrifice a few, to save many, that is the Sangheili way. I could not be any prouder and I am glad to have known such a valiant warrior like Tano and his Elites."

Winters shook his head, "They will be saving more then just my Company. With our vehicles repaired we are about ready to make our final push into Central Park and getting at those Cruisers. I have another division, the 6th Division coming down from the Northern part of the city. We are funneling them into the park and it will soon all be over and you and your men could go home."

Cur didn't reply he just watched as the Vehicle convoy was prepping up to leave. _If it keeps up like this I will be the only one left alive to return to Sanghelios. _Right then and there Cur decided that he would commit honorable suicide if he was the last Elite left after this battle. He would feel guilty if he didn't.

**Author's Note****: I hope you guys enjoyed that one. I probably won't be updating for another week or so, I recently got my Xbox 360 back from repair and I'm going to be getting Black Ops soon, so I will be busy if you know what I mean haha. Anyways thanks for reading and review.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter Thirty Five**

**October 26, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System**

There was a silence in New York, one the city hadn't experienced for over a week. Not one gun shot was heard. The moon illuminated the city a ghostly pale glow.

In mid town all was quiet. A lull in the fighting had set upon the forces of the UNSC and Covenant. Both sides simply stopped fighting to reclaim their dead and muster their forces.

Lieutenant Dyke sat with Sergeant Pavlov on the second floor of the apartments. Both were leaning against the walls heads resting against the wall.

Pavlov took a drag of his Sweet William, and then offered it to Dyke, "Sweet William LT?" Dyke took the offered cigar and smoked a drag before saying, "You know, when I joined the military they offered me smokes, but I said no thanks I don't smoke."

Pavlov raised and eyebrow, "That's… a really interesting story sir." Dyke let out a hearty laugh; the first in a while, "You don't have to lie Sergeant."

Pavlov smiled, "Haha just trying to make conversation I see?"

Dyke nodded. There was a few minutes of awkward silence. All around them marines were busy checking their ammo and making final preparations for what they all knew would be the Covenants final assault on their position.

"I come from a planet called New America. It was one of the few Inner Colonies that escaped being glassed by the Covenant." Pavlov was unsure of what he was talking about until he realized that he was telling him a story about his home. "I lived with my mom and dad and had two brothers and a sister. My two brothers were older then me and went enlisted as soon as they could. Both were killed in separate campaigns in 2548. My sister became a nurse in the MedCorp and she is currently on some back water planet in the Inner Colonies last I heard. What was it called Lexus or Nexus or something like that. Last I talked to her though was well over a month ago. I went and followed in my brother's footsteps much to my parent's dismay, but I felt it was something I should do."

"Chyort, did you talk to them recently?" Pavlov asked. Dyke nodded his head, "No, once I enlisted I had never spoken to them again, and this was in 2550. Anyways I went through basic then I went into Officers Training and came out a Lieutenant. I was stationed on garrison planets that had never been attacked yet."

"Then how'd you end up here leading us?"

"I wanted some combat experience so I asked to be deployed to Earth, where rumors were spreading of an impending Covenant attack. I got here only three days prior to the Covenants attack." Pavlov recalled it well when command of the platoon had been given to Dyke. They had thought he was some snot nosed rich Marine officer who thought he had what it took to lead them.

But Dyke had more then proved himself by leading the troops through this campaign and if it weren't for him then none of them might not be alive.

"LT you have done more then we could have ever hoped for, and without you we would be nothing right now," Pavlov admitted. Dyke smiled trying to stop himself from blushing, "Thank you sergeant, I just hope I can get us all out of here." Dyke raised a hand to shake and Pavlov shook it.

A nearby explosion interrupted the moment. A trio of marines led by Private Chen ran by downstairs ready for action. "Looks like it is time. Are you with me?"

Another explosion rung out, this one shaking the dust off the ceiling. Pavlov smiled, "To the death." The pair took up firing positions at the vacant window space. Window space was an over statement. At this point there were so many holes in the walls of the building that there were barely any recognizable parts. Just a three story husk of a once proud building.

The platoon had been reduced to sixteen marines. Plus the newly acquired downed pilot, who Dyke had assigned to defending the wounded so that Corpsman Coney could act as a frontline troop. Also Joe Watson had come up to help fight. Duke could tell by the fire on his eye that he was ready to die to protect his family and there was no turning a man like that down. Dyke armed him with a M7 and sent him on his way.

Pavlov sighted through the scope of his BR turning on the infra red. He nearly gasped when he saw the scores of Covenant coming at them. "They are really coming out of the wood work now."

But Dyke didn't hear him, "Illumination flares now!" No sooner had he finished saying this then two flares popped up from the demolished roof of the apartment. The flares glowed bright silver and was nearly blinding to look at. They flew out and hovered over the landscape surrounding the apartment.

There the platoon could really get eyes on what they were up against. Scores of grunts and jackals flanked by their brute overseers surrounded them like an ocean would an island. With their distinct features and alien skin they looked like something out of a horror film.

The Covenant stared up at the pair of flares as if mesmerized. That's when Dyke took his opportunity.

"Open fire!"

As one every person with a weapon fired. The Covenant was taken by surprise. Dozens of grunts and Jackals fell under the first volley. The flares slowly died out as they descended to the ground, shrouding the area in darkness again. The darkness didn't affect the Covenant however. They knew where the enemy was and charged forward.

The night air was illuminated with the light of plasma and the sound of fighting. Bullets and tracers crossed paths with one another like some weird twisted light show. Multiple marines fell but even more Covenant did.

Dyke sighted on a brute minor and pulled the trigger till it didn't get up. Shell casing s spilled all around him, but it didn't matter. It was just him and the Covenant he killed.

Next to him Pavlov lay prone. He was firing on mostly brutes, his BR's stopping power was much more then that of the assault rifle. He would leave the unshielded grunts and the easier to hit jackals to the others.

All the other marines were fighting just as hard. Chen led Dietrich, Woods and a few other marines in the defense of the bottom floor. They fought valiantly but they were quickly overrun. Chen and Woods were the only ones able to make it into the basement and hold the line there, though they were cut off. The rest including Dietrich and Corpsman Coney had fallen.

The Covenant had effectively split the defenders. Grunts suicide charged up the rickety stair case to the second floor. They just threw themselves at the humans to waste their ammo.

The Jackals came next. With their energy gauntlets they were a much tougher customer to handle. Dyke had grenades throw into the Kig-Yar's midst then marines armed with shotguns move in to clear out the stragglers.

Dyke bashed a grunts skull in with the butt of his rifle then sprayed into another group of jackals. Private Webb made his way through the slaughter, firing his MA5C as he went. He motioned to the radio on his back with excitement, "Sir I got command on the horn, they are sending a convoy to pick us up. It should be here in less then five minutes!"

"Thank god," Dyke putting a burst through a Jackals throat, "We just need to hold out till then."

Up above the apartment complex two AV-14 Hornets hover in place. The lead pilot broadcasted to his wingman, "Switch to thermals." Both pilots switched over to their vehicles thermal vision. The Covenant then appeared showing up as a whole lot of solid white figures, with the landscape being a dull gray.

"Looks like we got ourselves a whole lotta' bad guys down there?" One pilot said. The Wingman chuckled and said, "Looks like we have to clean house before the convoy arrives."

"Right," the lead said, "I'm going in hot!" The two Hornets dipped and flew full speed at the mass of Covenant strafing them with .50 BMG rounds and missiles. The aliens yelled out in agony as the rounds ripped into them creating geysers of multi colored blood.

Down in the basement Flight Officer Ripley fired the last of her SMG ammo into the grunt that popped its head around the corner. Its body flopped down onto the pile of previously killed grunts.

She sat on top of the trap door where the civilians were held. She promised herself that if she was going down she would go down on top of the trap door in attempt to hide the door.

Chen and Dietrich were on either side of her in much more covered positions firing on the Covvies that came down the stairs. But then the brutes came.

Ripley watched helplessly as both Chen and Dietrich fell under the on slaught. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked down to see a spike protruding from it. She never got to see more, the butt of a rifle knocked her out cold.

Dyke fought like a man possessed. He moved like a Spartan through the mass of Covenant. Firing his rifle with one hand and slashing out with his knife in another. He was pulled out of the brawl by Pavlov, "Sir we have to fall back."

"We are cut off damn it!" Dyke shouted back, he was beginning to lose his cool. Pavlov looked around at the window and smiled, "Found a way out."

"Are you serious?" Webb groaned next to him. "Very," Dyke answered back pedaling towards the window space. He fired as he went. He took one look at the ground and then jumped. He landed in a tuck and roll and came out unscathed. Five figures landed around him, what was left of his platoon. He had no clue what had happened to the men on the first floor or the civvies, and he didn't have time to worry about them. Right now he needed to get his remaining men out.

Dyke and his five men picked themselves up off the ground and were met with a horrifying sight. At least two score Covenant surrounds them in a semi circle. The golden armored Brute Ultra leading them had a wicked smile across its face. It raised its hand to signal attack.

Suddenly it and half of the forty present were ripped to ribbons by machine gun fire. Dyke glanced up and like angels descending from heaven; two AV-14 Hornets flew down and were upon the group of Covenant.

To their right they heard the sounds of engines and the flashes of headlights. "It's the convoy!" one of the marines exclaimed. Sure enough the first vehicles in the convoy, two Warthogs came barreling down the street, running and gunning down any Covenant in their way. Following the pair of 'hogs were a line of Scorpion tanks followed by a trio of Armadillo APCs and a few more Warthogs.

The first warthogs and most of the tanks went past them running over the few Covenant in front of them. They went on to surround the building, effectively cutting them and the Covvies off.

The ramp to one of the Armadillos opened and a squad of marines came out. At their head Dyke recognized marine Sergeant Howard. Howard's men turned and fired at the multiple Covenant firing down upon them from the buildings, though with all the firepower coming from all the vehicles and the countless other marines, the aliens didn't have much breathing room.

Howard casually walked over to the cover Dyke and his men were behind and stretched out a hand, "Lieutenant Dyke?" Dyke shook his hand with exasperation in his voice, "Sergeant Howard, glad to see you guys made it."

A smile cracked across Howard's face; something rarely seen with the serious man, "Glad to be here, how about we get you guys outta here." He eyed the rest of his men, "That it?"

Dyke shook his head, "I had some more men and a handful of civvies on the bottom floors, but I don't think they made it." Howard looked at Dyke with a sullen face, but then suddenly glanced up at something behind Dyke, "Well i think some of them made it."

Dyke turned around to see one of the elderly men holding a MA5C and firing into a group of grunts yelling, "Oorah!" The women followed behind him, carrying between them Ripley and an injured Chen. The other elderly man came out firing a BR, covering their retreat.

The group made their way over to his position and Dyke cocked an eyebrow at the two old men; "Where the hell did you guys learn to shoot like that?"

One of them raised up his left sleeve to show a picture of a flaming HEV pod with a skull on the inside of it. "Ex- ODST fought in the Harvest Campaign and most of the 2530's before they discharged me at fifty eight."

The other one nodded and said, "I was their for First Contact on Harvest as part of the militia then enlisted right afterwards. Fought in Harvest before they discharged me as well, got my fair share of training from Sergeant's Johnson and Byrne."

Dyke stood their in a mixture of bewilderment and admiration. A beam Rifle shot nearly taking his head off snapped him back into reality. "We need to move!"

Howard nodded, "Right follow me." The procession proceeded forward towards the waiting APC's. They formed a circle around the civilians and wounded as they went. Pavlov took out the Jackal sniper that had zeroed in on their position out with a precise shot from his BR.

They piled into the last Armadillo. Howard tapped the last of his men defending the ramp on the shoulder signaling for him to come in. The ramp closed and the group was in complete darkness for a second before red emergency lights came on.

The Armadillos were equipped to hold around a dozen people. This one was stretching with about fifthteen thrown in, but it was worth it to save every life. Dyke looked around at the faces and noticed that the civilian man Hank was missing. "Hey where's Hank?"

The two little kids; who Dyke just noticed had puffy red eyes, suddenly broke out in tears. The older women bent down and comforted them as Chen explained. "He sacrificed himself to save us," Chen's face turned into dismay as he continued, "We were going to be overrun, then Hank came out from his ambush spot under the stairs and blasted his way through the Brutes. He told us to get the women and children out of here, he would lead them away. That was the last we saw of him."

The kids had stopped crying but Dyke felt their pain. He had originally come to this area with over thirty of the bravest men and women he had ever fought with. Now he was down to six, and all for what a simple apartment building. He would ask this question well after the battle of Manhattan, after the battle of Earth, hell even after the entire war was over. Was it worth it?

**Authors Note****: Alright let me start off by saying, I am so sorry for not updating for so long. My X box experienced RROD in mid October and I had been without a xbox for almost two months. I recently got it back in mid December and I got Call of Duty Black Ops as well. So put two and two together and you have one teenager too distracted with video games, school and regular teenage life to write fanfics. But fear not I am back. I will finish this Fanfic if it kills me. It is nearing the end and it shall be a good ending. **

**On another note I want to also apologize for the bad writing quality and shortness of this chapter. I guess playing too much video games makes a person lose their reading and writing skills slowly, but do not worry I will get back into the swing of things soon and I will probably rewrite this chapter in the near future. Once again thanks for reading and REVIEW!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter Thirty Six**

**October 26, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Loyalist controlled area), Earth, Sol System**

On the other side of the city, about an hour and a half before the members of Dykes platoon were being relieved, four figures strolled cautiously through the deserted streets. Jace and Ellie walked about ten yards in front of Azo and Carmine.

"Those two really have seen to hit it off," Ellie remarked turning her head slightly to the pair behind them. It was true, ever since they had defeated the hunter killer; mainly due to the heroics of several brave grunts, Carmine had slowly come out of his shell and was taking a liking to Azo. Azo seemed to return the favor. Right now they were engrossed in a conversation about Azo's Sangheili Culture.

"So you can have multiple wives?" inquired Carmine eagerly. Azo nodded, "Yes the more honor you get the more wives you may acquire."

Carmine seemed to think it over a second before asking, "Do they… look like you?"

"Well of course, we are of the same species, though female look slightly different."

"Ugh boner gone," Carmine said with a hint of disgust, though Azo didn't pick up on it.

Jace chuckled to himself and looked back at his newly acquired girlfriend, "I'm happy they found each other, especially Azo. I could've sworn by the way the Elite was looking at you that he has a thing for you."

Ellie smiled to herself, "Aww you think so, I always thought that he was just being protective because I was the _first_ nice human he knew."

Jace shook his head, "I don't know, but I'm just happy he won't slit my throat with that energy sword of his." Ellie simply laughed under her helmet, "Alright, enough about me and my Elite hubby, on to more important things. Like where the hell are we?"

Jace did a quick scan of his HUD, "Seems we are in the Upper East Side, just East of Central Park," he seemed to be looking something over in his helmet, "Huh, if this mission clock is correct, it seems that it is my birthday today."

"What!" Ellie said loud enough that Azo and Carmine stopped their conversation and looked up. Ellie shied away and turned to Jace, "How did you not know it was your birthday?"

Jace shrugged, "Guess I got caught up in all this action that I kind of forgot." It was true. The group had been sneaking around avoiding the increased number of Covenant Patrols. There were times they didn't move for hours on hand.

Ellie depolarized revealing a devilish smile, "So what do you want as a birthday present?" Jace bluntly said, "To get the hell outta this mess and regroup with the others."

"Yea, but that's not really a present _I _can give you if you know what I mean?" Jace mulled it over before he got what she was saying, "Oh I see, well we can't obviously do that with them around," he indicated to Azo and Carmine, who were oblivious to their conversation.

Ellie grinned, "Don't worry about them." She turned to the pair behind them, "Hey Azo, Carmine. Jace and I are going to go scout out the area ahead to see if we are any closer, you guys stay here." Before either of them could remark Ellie pulled Jace around the corner out of sight.

"What are they so in a rush to recon for?" Azo asked.

"Oh they are about to go fuck."

Azo looked at Carmine with a puzzled expression, "What is fuck?" Carmine sighed and shook his head, "Azo my man, I got a lot to teach you."

A few minutes later they were in embrace within the solitude of an abandoned warehouse. Both had discarded their helmets to the side and were kissing each other all over the face. As she kissed Jace, Ellie slowly began to remove parts of her armor starting with her arm gauntlets. Before she could remove anymore Jace stopped her, "Wait Ellie, we are in a war zone right now. Do you really think we should be doing this?"

Ellie sighed, "Jace if you don't want to do it, you can just say so." Jace shook his head, "No lets do it, we don't know if we will survive another day so we have to seize every moment we can."

"Carpe Diem," Ellie replied as she continued removing her armor. Jace simply kept kissing her on her neck as she did. She had gotten down to just her black body suit when she suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong," Jace asked puzzled at his girlfriend's sudden stop. She put up a hand for silence, "Listen it's someone screaming."

Jace listened carefully and after a few seconds he heard the tell tale sound of someone screaming, "Sounds like a teenage girl in trouble."

Before he knew it Ellie dashed off through the warehouse doors in the direction of the screaming. She had left so fast that she had left her armor pieces, helmet and M7S.

"Ellie wait!" he called after her, but she was long out of sight. He swore, grabbed his helmet and chased after her. She was a lot faster then he had thought. It took him a whole two minutes to find her and then another just to catch up.

He finally caught up to her at an overpass over looking 5th street. Through heavy breaths he said, "Jeez… you couldn't…wait?" She didn't reply however and simply pointed, "Look!"

Jace looked up and his heart skipped a beat. Two Jackals had a teenage girl, maybe no older then 17 cornered behind a SUV. One of the bird like aliens made a squawking noise and charged at her. She ducked out of his reach and ran away down a nearby alley. The two aliens right on her heels.

It was Jace this time who didn't think before reacting. With a bountiful leap he leapt off the over pass onto a tractor trailer below. He ran across the trailer to the cab then jumped down. He was already halfway to the alley by the time Ellie got onto the street.

Jace turned the corner just in time to see that the girl had run into a dead end. She looked around frantically for any escape. The two Jackals slowly stalked up to her, savoring the fear they had conveyed from her.

It struck him as odd that the Jackals hadn't simply killed the girl upon finding her. Instead they seemed to want to try to capture her.

Jace shook himself out of his thoughts and pulled up his rifle and sighted on the Jackals on the right. With a flick of his finger he put a three round burst through the back of the bird aliens skull. Purple blood and bits of brain flew in every direction; including on the girl.

The second Jackal whirled around shield raised. Jace tried to get a clear shot, but couldn't get around the shield. He would've bit the dust had Ellie not tackled him out of the way when the Jackals returned fire with its needler.

"Thanks," he breathed out picking himself up off the floor. He glanced over at Ellie and saw that she was in some slight pain, "you alright!" She waved him off, "Yea tackling a person in full body armor when your just wearing a black suit isn't the best idea."

He made to go pick her up, but several pink needle shards cut him off. He turned his attention back to the Jackal which was slowly closing the distance between itself and him. _I can't get around that damn shield, so my only option is…_

Without warning Jace charged the Jackal firing as he went. The alien was caught off guard by the Helljumpers sudden charge and could only get a few shots off before Jace slammed into his shield knocking them both to the ground.

Before it could react Jace was on top of it with his combat knife drawn. Both of them locked eyes for a split second before Jace plunged the weapon into the aliens' throat. There was silence for a few seconds, only the sound of his breathing. He began to realize that he was breathing quite heavily. He couldn't be that tired. He looked down at his abdomen and was surprised to see three pink needle shards stuck in deep.

He looked up and made eye contact with the girl; who had a terrified look on her face, before everything went dark and he fell on top of the dead Jackals corpse.

He awoke sometime later to three familiar faces surrounding him. "Welcome back Jace," Carmine said with a grin on his face.

"What happened?" he asked. He felt groggy and like his head had been hit with a sledge hammer. Ellie handed him some sort of pill, "Eat this it'll get rid off the head aches."

He took the pill in his gloved hand and swallowed it down with his saliva.

"That Jackal you tackled got you with a few shots of his needler before he went down," Ellie explained, "It got you right in the abdomen. Lucky too because a few centimeters to the left and it would of hit some vital stuff."

"Lucks the name of the game," Jace exclaimed with a smile as he pushed himself to his feet, "Where's the girl?" Ellie motioned to the back of the small shop they were in, "She's back there, her name is Sara and that's all I got from her."

"She also is a sexist bitch," Carmine muttered under his breath, though Ellie heard it and gave him a slap over the back of the head. Azo turned to Jace and explained, "It seems the human girl only really talks to Ellie, she's dead terrified of me and Carmine doesn't get much farther."

Jace nodded his head showing he understood and proceeded to the back. Sara was sitting in the fetal position. Now that it wasn't the heat of combat he could get a good look at her face. She was cute. She had brunette hair tied back in a bun. She wore a coat that was just a little too big for her and her clothes seemed kind of old and raggedy, but he assumed she had been living on the streets since the Covenant invasion.

_It had felt so long ago, even though it had only been a week ago._

"Hey," he said approaching her slowly, she looked up at him, "You okay?" She nodded feebly. He sighed and began to turn away when she suddenly spoke, "Thank you very much for saving me, Ellie told me how you risked your life to help me."

Jace smirked, "No problem just what us ODST are trained to do, will you be joining us for dinner?" She seemed to think it over for second before nodding and getting to her feet to follow the Helljumper.

"Look who decided to join us for dinner," he said as they got back to the others. Ellie was roasting what appeared to be some sort of bird carcass over a small fire built. Azo and Carmine nodded as Sara approached. The girl showed a hint of fear of the Elite.

"It is okay," Jace reassured her, "He is nice. His kind is on our side now." Jace pointed over to Carmine, "Now that man over there, you should watch out for him, he is a little sex deprived."

"Ehh hem, Jace may I speak with you in private," Carmine motioned to his helmet. The corporal rolled his eyes and placed on his helmet. He switched to squad COM and was berated by Carmine, "Jeez Jace I'm only a few years older then her. I could've made something happen with her."

"Give it a rest Carmine. She is a civilian, how the hell did you think you were going to hook up with her at a time like this. If you haven't noticed we have a war to fight."

"How the hell do you and Ellie find time to go on "Scouting" missions? Ha the only thing you're scouting is her puss…"

"Watch it kid," Jace threatened, "We may be friends and squad mates but I will still kick your ass in a moments notice."

"Okay fine, and another thing, how are we going to look out for her?" Carmine inquired. Jacen thought about that too. Sara had become a huge liability on the teams' part. She would need more protecting then actual helping. "We will just have to deal with it."

"Ugh fine, but you're watching after her. Azo and I have enough shit worrying about each other and Ellie isn't even in her armor. Where did that go?" Jace had complete forgot about Ellie's armor. She had left so goddamn fast that she left it in that warehouse. "Um she left it when… we had to go help the girl."

"Oh," Carmine said, a ghost of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, "You mean after you fucked Ellie." Jace simply gave him the bird and turned around to go eat. He sat next to Ellie and took his helmet off. Ellie offered him a drum stick of the unnamed bird, "What was that all about?"

Jace took the leg and took a bite of it before responding, "Oh you know guy talk."

"I bet," Ellie muttered under her breath. She turned to Sara, who was next to her as far away from Azo as possible, offering the other drum stick. The girl took the leg and dug into it feverishly. Jace stopped eating and eyed her, "You eating like you haven't eaten in days."

Sara didn't look up as she responded, "I haven't eaten a single thing in two days." She removed part of her coat to reveal her stomach, signs of her ribs were apparent. Jace looked away and apologized. "Don't worry anything of it; me and my dad did well after the Covenant came."

Ellie offered her the rest of her portion of her meal and asked, "Sara, do you want to tell us what got you into this whole mess."

She stopped eating and looked up through glazed eyes, "I will. It all started when the Covenant attacked all those days ago. I was in school when it happened. I'm a senior in high school. We were ordered to proceed directly home when suddenly the first few ships appeared over the city. I had never seen a dead person until that day. There were countless people being slaughtered by _his _kind," she indicated over to Azo, who looked away slightly embarrassed.

"He is good now, his people realized the errors of their ways and want to stop the rest of the Covenant," Ellie said in the defense of Azo. Sara didn't look convinced but continued on with her story, "Anyways I got home and my father told me that we were leaving. We headed out to the Brooklyn Bridge in our car, but there was so much traffic and debris we never made it. We were forced to retreat into the subway. With about twenty other people we stayed down there for over three days, avoiding those bug aliens and only adventuring to the surface when we needed food or water. One day when me and my dad and a few others went up we were set upon by a Covenant dropship. Out of it came about a half dozen of those gorilla type aliens. They killed two members of our group who were armed. They took my dad and another person prisoner. I only got away by luck. I was lost without any knowing where I was. I pretty much wandered around for two days alone until I was set upon by those Jackals and that's where you guys came in."

Jace nodded after she had completed her story, "That's one helluva story. I am surprised you are alive." Ellie nodded in agreement, "Yea you are one lucky girl, now you said the Brutes err gorilla aliens took your dad prisoner?" Sara nodded.

"Would you by chance know where they might've taken them?" Sara thought about it before saying, "Now that you speak of it, I heard one of the aliens mention something about a stadium. They said they had taken hundreds of humans' prisoner there."

"Well that settles it," Jace said getting up. The other glanced up at their de facto leader. "What is it?" Carmine asked. Jace placed his helmet on and said, "We must hurry up and get back to friendly territory, we must tell them of these hostages the Covenant has."

The other s nodded in agreement and got together their stuff. Ellie walked up to Jace, "Seems I kind of left my armor and rucksack when we left to help Sara." Jace did a mock tsk tsk, "Shouldn't have run off in such a hurry." Ellie smiled and playfully pushed him. Jace faked injury before laughing and following after Azo and Carmine who had taken point.

Ellie turned to Sara who was just getting up, she offered a hand, "Look I'm sorry we have to rush you like this, but we must regroup with our friends." Sara shook off the help, "its okay as long as we save my dad I will do anything." as she walked off Ellie had to admit that she was one brave girl.

It was about an hour later and they still hadn't run into any friendlies— or enemies for that matter. They were all tired. Jace hadn't really gotten any sleep in the last twenty four hours. He was pretty much running on high amounts of adrenaline at this point. Sara looked tired and like she was about to keel over at any moment. But she kept trudging on and he had to admit he was impressed at her resilience.

"Jace this is pointless," Carmine complained from the rear of the group, "I say we set up camp for the night and continue on at dawn."

"Well until you get a few more chevrons on the one of yours, you don't have any say in anything. So shut the hell up and stay frosty!" Jace snapped suddenly. He was running extremely low on patience.

"You know he's just tired like the rest of us," Ellie said coming up next to him putting her arm through his. Jace turned to her. She was wearing Sara's coat and to him she looked a lot like a civilian right now. He was about to respond when he noticed Sara wasn't behind Ellie like she was supposed to. He looked around and spotted her in front of them about 30 meters in the middle of a vacant parking lot.

"Sara!" he hissed loudly, "Get your ass out of the open and back over her." She turned glaring angrily at Jace. She sighed and was about to take a step when suddenly she was enveloped in blinding light. Jace's VISR quickly adjusted to the light; he wish it hadn't.

A phantom dropship hovered over Sara; in the place of its chin-mounted heavy plasma auto cannon was a floodlight, which shone proudly on Sara. The girl had a terrified look on her face as the side doors opened slowly to reveal half dozen brutes.

Jace and Carmine sighted through their weapons scopes at the brutes, which leapt down from the dropship to surround Sara.

"Shit!" he whispered loud enough as not to alert the brutes. The Loyalist hadn't noticed the rest of the group a mere thirty meters away because they were in the cover of rubble and debris.

Jace sighted on the brutes, but Ellie pushed his gun away, "If you fire on one of them they might kill her right off the back."

"Then what do you suppose we do," he almost cried out. Ellie stared from the brutes, which were beginning to grab hold of Sara to her coat. "There's only one thing I can think of," she took out her M6S from her thigh holster and tucked it into the confines of her coat. "Take off your helmet," she ordered Jace.

The black ODST complied, "Wh…" Ellie leaned over and kissed him on the lips for a few seconds before recoiling and saying, "Use my transponder to find us."

The thought dwelled in Jace's mind before he realized the full of what she was saying, "No you are not doing this."

"Too late," she remarked and ran out towards the dropship. "Hey leave my daughter alone you animals," The brutes turned around and faced the source of the noise. It was a human civilian in a dirty coat.

A blue armored captain leapt forward and grabbed a hold of Ellies' wrist. It took the strength of both Carmine and Azo to hold Jace back from charging out after her.

The brutes took the two females and went up the gravity beam back into the Phantom. The searchlights turned off and the ship slowly ascended into the sky and away, leaving the trio in a shroud of darkness only illuminated by the occasional fire.

"No Ellie! Why did you do it?" Jace screamed out into the heavens.

"Corporal shut the hell up, you want the whole damn city to hear you," Carmine berated Jace covering his mouth with his gloved hand.

"Ellie knew what she was doing. Now we can find her position once she turns on that homing beacon of hers," Azo said trying to reassure the group. Jace glared up at the Elite. He was about to say something not to nice, when they were all blinded by another light. At first they thought it was another Phantom, but upon closer inspection they found it to be a Scorpion Main Battle Tank.

A marine sergeant riding on the treads hopped off and made his way over, "Where's the fire boys? We just saw a Phantom take off in this general area."

Jace dropped to his knees and began pounding his fist against the ground. The marine looked confused.

"No we were so close," Jace wept, "We were so close…"


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter Thirty Seven**

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (UNSC Echo Base), Earth, Sol System**

Private First Class Ricky Li walked at a hurried pace through Echo Base. UNSC personnel and civilians alike gave the fast moving ODST a stare as he passed, though they didn't look for too long afraid the Helljumper would meet their gaze.

Ricky moved quickly. He was in full armor and had his helmet, though that was depolarized. As the command center came into view he hurried his pace up to a jog. The automatic doors leading into the Elephant weren't even fully opened before the ODST walked through.

There talking to Colonel Winters and Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, was his best friend Jacen Cole. "Cole! It is good to see you brother." He walked up to the black ODST and they locked arms.

"Ricky Li, you son of a bitch, thought I wouldn't see your pretty face again."

"Likewise," Li retorted, looking his friend over, "You look like hammered shit." It was true. Jace's armor was beyond dirty. It was cracked in multiple places and looked as if was going to fall apart at any moment. He had blood from at least four different species including human splattered here and there. His cornrows were dirty and looked as if they were bogged down with sweat. He looked like he hadn't shaved in quite a bit having a lot more facial hair then Li last remembered him with. _Last time I saw him was on the Marlow right before the drop. _

"Ha, six days out on your own in the big city will do that to ya," Jace replied. "Man you weren't on your own, I was right next to ya the whole time," He turned to see who the speaker was. It was Carmine; Ricky couldn't recall his first name, the private who got stuck with the squad right before the drop. If memory served him correctly the Rookie had crashed into Jace's pod and sent them both off course. But by the way he looked now; Ricky knew he was by no means a rookie anymore. He was as dirty as Jace and he looked a lot tougher then when Ricky first saw him.

"Okay, fine I had some people with me," Jace smiled. Ricky returned the smile, but then the smile turned into a slight frown, "Jace, we haven't heard from Ellie since the drop."

Jace's smile didn't fade, "Oh it is quite okay, I found her a couple days ago."

"Oh where is mom?" asked Lombardi, who had already gotten reacquainted with his squad mates and had been sitting idle by while the two friends talked. Jace looked away from the others at the floor. He didn't answer.

"She was taken from us shortly before we arrived at your base human," the group whirled around to see two Elites. One was Azo and the other Cur. "How do you know that Split-chin," Lombardi hissed.

"Because this _Split-chin _was with Ellie from day one," Jace said in defense of Azo, "Meet Azo Kisamee."

Azo extended a hand towards Lombardi, which the demo trooper reluctantly shook. Cur turned towards Jace, "My SpecOps soldier informed me of every detail of his journey, you all went through quite a lot. It is a wonder that you are alive."

"I guess it is," Jace said, looking over the Elite. He was obviously some high ranking Zealot. His head dress and robe enforced that. "Jace meet Field Marshall Cur Kasamee, leader of the remaining Sangheili forces." Cur placed an arm across his chest showing respect. Jace nodded, "Corporal Cole, Jacen."

"Now that we all have gotten acquainted," Colonel Winters said getting the attention of the group present, "Let us get down to business."

The group all gathered around the holo table with a holographic layout of the city, "Now PFC Torres was captured at around 2300 hours tonight. Corporal Cole has told me that she and a civilian teenage girl had been taken by a band of Brutes in a phantom."

"Yes," Jace interrupted, "The civvie girl told me that her father had been taken from her in a similar fashion a few days prior to us finding her. She heard that the brutes have been taking humans prisoner and taking them to a stadium within the city."

"Cowardly Brutes," Cur almost spit out, "they are going to use those humans as leverage to win this battle. They more then likely will use them as literally a human shield when they muster their full counter attack."

The thought sunk into everyone for a moment. They couldn't fathom shooting innocent civilians to kill the Loyalist didn't compute with any of them.

"All the more reason to rescue those civilians," Winters said trying to get the group to focus, "Now PFC Torres transponder is on her at the moment, and we have finally located it."

A tiny section of the map became highlighted in blue. "We think that she and the others are being held within this general area, and since the civilian girl mentioned stadium it is a best bet to say they are being held within New Manhattan Stadium."

New Manhattan Stadium was where New York's Football Team, the Wolverines, played their home games.

"The stadium is fairly large being able to fit over 70, 000 people. If that was the case then there could be a helluva a lot of civilians to save," Colonel Winters pointed out.

"Doesn't matter," Captain Van Zandt spoke up, "We can't let the bastards use our own people as a ticket to victory."

"I agree with you a hundred percent Captain, but the fact is that to pull this off without collateral damage is going to be near impossible. If anyone's got an idea then I'm open to suggestions."

Everyone looked at each other unsure of any safe ways, until Jace looked over at Gunnery Sergeant Fenix, "Hey Gunny, remember when we went out tagging terrorist on Trines?"

Fenix thought it over, "Yea we were airlifted to multiple sites when the innies decided to grow some balls and attack in full force. Good thing too, those Hornets got us there way faster then…." The gunny stopped when he caught on to his Corporals plan, "Good idea Jace."

"Would you care to share Gunny?" Winters asked. Fenix nodded and went over what Jace was getting at, "I think we need an air assault sir. Since the beginning of this battle we have been pretty much sticking to the ground and assaulting with heavy weapons and armor," Winters nodded slowly as the Gunny went on, "I think instead we should assault the stadium with airlifted in soldiers. It would catch the Covvies off guard and we will be able to choose and pick our targets easier, avoiding civilian damage. Not too mention it will be a helluva lot faster. I heard from a buddy of mine who is currently stationed over in Cleveland Ohio. They used a similar tactic to get captured civvies out of the stadium over there. "

Winters nodded, "I like the idea Gunny, but one problem how will we ensure the civvies safe extraction? The base is within Loyalist held territory."

"We move in with an armored convoy simultaneously," Fenix responded, "They should easily break through the few outposts guarding the route towards the stadium."

Winters nodded, seeing the greatness of this plan. He looked up at Van Zandt, "Captain your Helljumpers ready to do a little flying?" Van Zandt cracked a smile, "We sure as hell are sir."

"Good, I will get the Warthogs, Scorpions, and Armadillos ready to roll. I will also send half a dozen trucks to help with the evac. Alright everyone mission name is Operation: Irene. Objectives. get to New Manhattan Stadium and rescue Private Torres and all the multiple civilians held hostage there. Eliminate the current Loyalist regiment stationed there and bang out with minimal casualties."

Jace knew _minimal_ meant probably within a hundred or so. Heavy casualties usually came out as near thousands or total annihilation. Those were reserved for Pyrrhic victories like with Harvest.

"Any questions?" Van Zandt inquired. Cur spoke up, "Where are my Sangheili during all this?"

"Sorry Cur, but this is business _us _humans have to take care of."

Cur nodded understanding all too well, "Very well human, we shall sit on the sidelines…for now."

"Thank you for understanding friend," Winters said sincerely, he looked around at the others, "Anymore questions?" Everyone shook their heads no. "Good, then squad leaders you know your assignments. Operation: Irene is a go."

As everyone was leaving to get ready Fenix walked up to Jace and Carmine, "You guys have done enough. You can sit this one out if you want."

Jace and Carmine met eyes, then Jace spoke for both, "Sir if we sat this one out, then we would be betraying Ellie. I will get her back." Fenix nodded understanding before he too left.

Ten minutes later Jace and the other Helljumpers were aboard the AV-14 Hornets. They stood on the skids, holding onto the rungs as the six birds flew in between the multiple skyscrapers and other tall buildings of Manhattan.

Down below the convoy was visible only by the headlights of the vehicles. They would be getting to the battle shortly after the ODST and Hornets.

Jace was freezing his ass of in the cold October night air. He had wished he had gotten another set of armor, before embarking. His current one had multiple holes and his gloves were ripped. And with the speed at which the Hornets were going he felt like he was in the Artic.

But none of that mattered right now. All that did was getting Ellie and the others free from the accursed Brutes.

He took notice of Captain Van Zandt on the Hornet next to them. Out of the six Hornets present, four of them actual carried trooper. Five a piece. The other two were being used as gun ships.

Jace also took notice that this was the first time he would be working with a unit larger then a squad in a while. Not even on Nexus he had been with more then his squad. Though from what he heard from Lombardi and Ricky, the remaining of the company has run a few Ops, since their landing, as a whole.

He guessed that Manhattan was a lot harder to fight in then he had originally thought. Though deep down on the inside it didn't bother him because _he _had survived over six days with little more then a squad out there in the big city.

It felt a little awkward to see all his friends again, though he knew he would never see many of the company that hadn't made it.

"Five minutes till landing," the pilot said, jarring Jace out of his thoughts.

_I will mourn for them later. Right now I have a mission to complete. _

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (New Manhattan Stadium), Earth, Sol System**

Ellie and Sara had literally been pushed out of the hovering Phantom onto the ground ten feet below. Ellie landed first and Sara sort of landed on top of her. Ellie grunted in pain from the 17 teen year old falling on top of her, but she quickly shook the pain off and sat up taking in her surroundings.

They were in the right place alright. There were thousands of civilians packed tight on the field of the Wolverines. It was horrible conditions. There was people coughing and wheezing all over the place, leaving her to believe some form of sickness was spreading fast among the populace. Almost everyone simply sat down or stood huddled in a group or to themselves trying to keep warm in the 32 degree night.

Covenant troops walked among the crowd patrolling and keeping the moral down as low as possible. A few guard towers had been erected in the midst of the crowd. On top Brutes or grunts with fuel rod cannons watch the crowd closely. Up in the stands at least a dozen Jackal snipers armed with beam rifles sat perched keeping a bird's eye view on things.

_Covenant was really keeping a tight watch on everything. _

"Sara?" a voice said behind them. The pair turned around to spot a man in his mid forties with balding red hair and a slight beer belly. "Mathias!" Sara shouted running over and giving the man a hug.

The man returned the embrace. Almost on the verge of tears he said, "We thought you were dead. How have you been?" Sara was also on the verge of tears, "I wondered for a couple days after you guys were taken. But then I was saved by her and her friends."

Ellie; who had been observing the man and concluded he wasn't her father, nearly jumped when Sara motioned over to her, "This is Ellie Torres. She is an ODST of the UNSC Military."

"ODST you say. Not to be offensive or anything but you don't look like a Helljumper," Mathias said with an outstretched hand, "Mathias Kobroski". Ellie shook the hand and smiled, "Sorry, but it seems I left all my gear back home. Had to blend in with you civvies if I wanted to come here."

Mathias shook his head understanding. Sara interrupted any further conversation, "Mathias, where's my dad?" Mathias looked sullen, "It's best if you follow me."

Sara looked up at Ellie with a worried glance, the Helljumper nodded and indicated to follow Mathias. As they walked Ellie took note of the multiple search lights shining down on the crowd. They gave the impression that it was still light out despite it being nearly 1 AM.

"Mathias it must be hard for you all to get some sleep with those searchlights shining down on you?"

Mathias laughed, "Sleep! Only those lucky enough to be able to fall asleep in a mess like this get sleep. I have been awake since I got here." Ellie took note of the bags under his eyes. They were black and he looked like he'd faint at any moment. Off in the distance she heard a baby crying and remembered that there were multiple children and infants present too.

_This is no place for them. _Deep down she really wished that they hadn't survived long enough to come here and suffer the way they had been.

The trio cut a swathe through the crowd as they went. Ellie noticed everyone had the same tired expression Mathias did. Ellie saw a red armored Brute Captain. It was a rare sight as those colors were never really used on captains. The captain was picking on this one old man, taking away his rations and eating them. He then threw the man to the floor.

Mathias saw what she was staring at and said, "That thug there is Bratus. He is nothing but a bully that intimidates us and the Covenant alike. No one, not even his own comrades, like him."

Bratus finished down the feeble humans ration and moved on. He spotted a blond women walking with one of the regulars here. He had never seen her before and went to go investigate.

Ellie would took note of that. They proceeded on and almost ran into a grunt. "Watch it humans," the grunt squeaked. It felt weird for the enemy to be so close, but not being able to kill them.

They finally reached a small group that parted as they came. In the center of the group lay a man around the same age as Mathias. He had brunette hair, but what really stuck out was the fact that he had almost an identical face to Sara's. And as if to confirm Ellies thoughts Sara blurt out, "Dad!" She ran over and hugged the man. At this point tears were streaming down her face.

"Sara," he said exhausted, "I have missed you." He pulled her tight and didn't let go for quite some time. That is until he went into a coughing fit. Sara retracted as her father heaved, "What's wrong father?"

Mathias put a hand on her shoulder, "He is sick. It is some damn flu that is going around here. With no medical supplies we can't do anything to really help him."

"Mathias, stop beating around the bush," Sara's dad said. He looked Sara in the eye, "Honey, I am dying." Sara's eyes widened and she began to tear up again. She lay on her father's chest and cried.

But Ellie had an idea, "I am a medic in the ODST. Now I left most of my medical gear with my armor, but I have some pills and here that should be able to help your bodies' immune system fight back this disease."

She took out the pills from her utility belt and handed them to Sara. Sara took one of the pills and gave it to her father. He swallowed it and convulsed for a few seconds before he went into a relaxed state of unconsciousness. "Is he okay?" inquired Sara through red puffy eyes.

Ellie nodded, "Yea, his body is just getting accustomed to the anti biotic."

Sara sniffled, "Thank you so much Ellie." Ellie nodded and turned towards Mathias, "I noticed that there seems to be at least a couple thousand civilians here, and less then half that Covenant on guard. If a revolt were to happen, I'm not sure that the Covenant would be able to stop you guys."

Mathias smiled, "Ah, you must be an ODST thinking of getting the people to rebel. We have thought of that but already have come up with a few problems. There may be a couple thousand people here but half of that is women and children and almost everyone is too tired to do much more then walk around."

Ellie nodded seeing the futility of her plan. Before she could say anything, Mathias said o the group, "Uh oh look who's coming. Everyone act normal and don't make eye contact."

Ellie turned around to see who he was talking about and instantly wished she hadn't. Bratus was making a beeline right to them. She turned around quickly hoping he hadn't spotted her. But by a gruff voice calling her, he knew he had seen her.

"You human female, turn around," Bratus snarled. Ellie turned around slowly staring the Brute right in the eye.

"Are you new here?" The Jiralhanae Captain asked. Ellie didn't respond. "Answer me wench!" _Wench_? _What was this, the 1400's?_ Ellie still didn't answer. A crowd of humans and nearby Loyalist was forming; Bratus knew he had to assert his authority.

"Are you mad at us Covenant for invading your home planet and destroying you precious cities?" he said with a hint of delight.

"I'm surprised stupid sons of bitches like you could even pilot a space ship. Let alone use slipspace. I figured your Elite handlers simply let you lose on us after they had done most of the work."

That was enough for Bratus; he backhanded the woman across the face knocking her to the ground. A gasp came up from the crowd and Mathias and a few others rushed to Ellies aid. "How dare you say something like that. We eradicated the venomous Elites and now we sit as the Prophets right hand."

Ellie got back to her feet sluggishly and turned towards Bratus. A trickle of blood was seeping away from the spot where his glove met her face, "So you're still the Prophets bitch and for your information you hit like a grunt."

That was it. This human crossed the line. He raised his spike rifle to strike her with the bayonet. Ellie didn't look scared at all, although Sara had the most terrified look on her face.

Suddenly a shadow enveloped them. They all looked up to see something large blocking out the moon. "Is that bird?" someone asked. Ellie nearly broke out in tears when she figured out what it was.

It was an AV-14 Hornet. The VTOL aircraft was joined by five others. They all descended down into the stadium to wreck havoc. Ellie spotted fellow Orbital Drop Shock Troopers on board some of the Hornets. They fast roped from the skids firing as they landed and took up covering positions.

One Hornet that was acting as a gunship unleashed a barrage of rockets into a guard tower sending it and its occupants crashing to the ground. The other gunship did a strafing run on the stands. Cutting down the multitude of Jackals stationed there in hot lead.

Hundreds of civilians were running here and there trying to get out of harms way. Sadly a many were cut down by plasma fire from the covenant or even stray fire from the ODST or Hornets. The Covenant on the ground fired at their adversaries with determined vigor.

Ellie realizing that Bratus had temporarily forgotten her reached into her coat pocket and removed her M6S. Bratus turned back to her ready to strike the human down before dealing with the others. He couldn't react in time. Ellie fired two shots into the Brutes face. He fell back with half his face missing.

Jace hooked his cable to the skids of the Hornet and with a leap backwards jumped off. As he rappelled down he used one hand to grip the cable so that he wouldn't fall to fast and another to fire his BR into the Covenant down below.

Around him Carmine, Lombardi and Gunnery Sergeant Fenix were all doing the same. Ricky had stayed on the Hornet giving firing support from the chain gun in the rear. Jace hit the ground and on instinct unhooked the cable. He sighted through his BR and put a burst through a approaching brutes head. He watched the brutes head disappear into pink mist.

He took note that there was literally a wall of civilians behind the small force of approaching Covenant. "Sir!" He shouted to Fenix, "What if we miss and hit the civvies?"

"Don't," was all his gunny said before raising his MA5C and firing in short controlled burst at a small detachment of Jackals that were cowering behind their shields. Jace fired picking his targets carefully. He moved fluently always peering through his BR's scope, trusting his squad to cover his unprotected flank. He turned this way and that until he saw a familiar face in his scope.

"Ellie!" He shouted before taking off in her direction. "Jace get back here goddammit!" Fenix yelled, before sighing and turning to the others, "Cover his ass."

"Sniper in the rubble!" Lombardi shouted too Li.

"Got it," Ricky responded, "Pilot give me a hundred eighty degree turn."

The pilot obliged and spun the Hornet around so that Li was facing the rubble of the stands. He let the chain gun do its work, turning the lone Jackal sniper into chum.

Jace moved quickly avoiding fire from both sides. Ellie spotted him and ran straight up to him, holding him in an embrace when they met. "I knew you would come."

Jace depolarized his visor and looked into her eyes, "Of course I would come…I love you." And he meant it. Ellie realized that and felt instantly safe despite the heated firefight going on around them.

The remaining Covenant was quickly mopped up. The ODST had not one casualty. Though the same could not be said for the civilians. Many had been caught in the cross fire and many lay dead on the ground.

"We will give them proper burials when we get you guys back to base," Captain Van Zandt informed Mathias, who was de facto leader of the civilian populace. Mathias nodded, "Thank you Captain." The civilian left to go tend to the wounded.

Just then the Convoy rolled up. Carmine smiled, "Looks like our ride is here."

"_Their _ride," Fenix grunted, he motioned to the Hornets that were landing in the middle of the field, "we leaving the same way we came."

Carmine sighed, "You know how to kill people's mood."

Jace and Ellie had not separated since they found each other. "Hey you two love birds coming?" Lombardi shouted from the landing zone.

Jace looked at Ellie, "What do you say baby, you up for a little flying?"

Ellie smiled back, "As long as I'm with you."

**Author's Note****: I know the ending of this chapter got a little weird, but I couldn't really think of any way to end it, so I left it at this. Anyways READ & REVIEW. **


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter Thirty Eight**

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (UNSC Echo Base), Earth, Sol System**

The excitement and noise in Echo base was so great, that one couldn't here themselves talk. Now most people would think that with all the marines have been through tonight, that they would be dying for rest. Well not the marines in Echo Base. They were all too excited. Tonight had been one of the UNSC most successful night in the city since the Covenant Invasion.

Though now there was an influx in the amount of civilians here and the tent cities were over flowing it wasn't what was on anyone's mind at the moment.

Colonel Winters swaggered through the crowd of marines, ODST and pilots, to the podium located at the center of the mass. He put up a hand for silence and cleared his throat getting their attention.

"UNSC personnel, I know you are all happy of our successful night. We rescued Lieutenant Dykes Platoon and rescued a large number of civilians that would've surely been killed had we not acted when we did," He realized he was stretching the truth a bit. But he needed to raise their morale for what he was about to tell them, "But now it is time to end this battle."

An uproar went up from the crowd. He waited a few seconds before continuing, "Tomorrow we shall make our final preparations to attack the Loyalist' LZ located in Central Park." The crowd was quiet knowing the seriousness of the attack, "Now I'm going to tell you the truth. This will be our hardest attack yet. The Loyalist may be dwindling in numbers, but they are now an animal backed into a corner. They will fight like madmen to ensure their survival or die trying."

He let that sink in before putting on a smile before motioning to two of his men to bring up a couple crates. "But now, live it up like it is your last night!" He opened the crates to reveal a football and other equipment and then he opened up the other to reveal an alcohol keg.

"Hell yea Colonel, we will definitely follow that order!" someone in the crowd shouted. Winters smiled and walked off stage as the marines rushed up to the entertainment.

He met Captain Van Zandt at the bottom of the podium stairs. The Helljumper Captain had a concerned look on his face, "Do you think it is wise to give them beer the day before the attack?"

Winters nodded his head, "It is going to be many of these men and women's last night. I want them to celebrate it." Van Zandt didn't look convinced, "What if the Loyalist attack?"

"Cur has his Elites guarding the outpost around the base; if any trouble comes they will warn us. I want you to accompany to the command center. We will be discussing the details of our attack tomorrow." Van Zandt nodded and followed his leader.

A game of football had been set up on the parade ground. It was eleven Helljumpers against eleven regular marines. Four trash cans made up the end zone on either side. All around the parade ground UNSC personnel cheered on their respective sides. The game started in earnest, but after Essex got his legs blown out by a marine the game stepped up a notch. There were many cheep shots and many arguments. The marines had been winning for most of the game, but an interception by Banks returned for a touchdown tied it up.

Li joined Gunnery Sergeant Fenix in the make shift stands on the side. He handed his officer a cup of beer. Fenix took the offer and said, "This is a intense game isn't it?"

Li too ka sip of his beer and said, "Hell yea, Lombardi is looking like he is a quarter back in the pros. Where's Jace? I know he would enjoy a game like this."

Fenix shook his head, "I'm guessing he's getting cleaned up. He was pretty grimy when he came here." Li nodded in agreement before downing another gulp of his drink.

Jace stepped out of the shower. He hadn't felt this clean since right before the drop. He went over to the mirror and looked himself over. He was noticeably skinnier, but a week out in the field with little to no food would do that to a man.

He also noticed he looked considerably older. He was only twenty three, but at the moment he could've passed for thirty. He eyed his facial hair. It had grown out into a scruffy beard. He took one of the disposable razors nearby and put on shaving cream. He cleanly shaved his beard into a nice looking Goatee.

He looked over his work before gathering his stuff and proceeding to the Helljumper barracks.

When he got there he saw it was completely void of anyone. They were all probably off at the football game partying. He found a vacant bunk at the back and began putting his gear away when he heard the door open and shut behind him. He turned his head to see Ellie standing there. She saw him and dropped her stuff and ran to him. They embraced for a good two minutes.

"Jace… I'm sorry for running…" She began but Jace hushed her with a kiss to the lips.

"You did what you had too," he responded coolly. She smiled and then looked up at the clock on the wall, "Looks like we missed your birthday."

Jace smiled, "Don't worry about that, I just care that you're safe."

A devilish smirk crossed her face, "So you don't want my present from before?" Jace had completely forgotten about that, "Hold on now, I didn't say that."

Ellie giggled like a child and pushed Jace onto the bed. She crawled on top of him and began kissing him on his bare chest working her way up to his face. They made out for a few seconds before she sat up and removed her top. Jace was amazed at how nice her body looked despite her being out in the field for so long. Jace sat up and grabbed hold of her and began kissing her.

He noticed a bruised mark on her cheek and a small scar, "What's that?"

She seemed to have forgotten about her bruise, "Oh nothing, some brute tried to make me his bitch. But it was him who became the bitch." Jace smirked and began kissing her nape.

Suddenly the door opened and Ellie flew under the blankets to hide. Fenix poked his scarred head in and turned to Jace, "Ah there you are Jace, will you be joining us for the football game? The others say they need you."

Jace shook his head, "No sir. I'm beat. I'm just going to rest up for a few hours. This is the first legit bed I've slept in for a while." Fenix nodded and took notice of the lump in the bed next to him, "Well you take care then and be ready for the final attack tomorrow." He turned to leave before adding, "Oh and you too Ellie."

"Yes sir," Ellie said from under the covers. As the door slammed shut Ellie popped her head out from under the covers. Jace simply smiled at her before they both went under the covers to continue where they left off.

Winters was hunched over the Holo map as the last of his assembled officers arrived. When all was quiet Winters began, "It is time my friends. We are going to take the Covenant LZ and drive them from this city."

"We still have a helluva a lot of city to cover even if we take central park," Lieutenant Dyke pointed out towards the northern parts of the city; which was still Loyalist red.

"The 3rd Regiment is coming down from the northern park of New York. They have already begun pushing into the North part of Manhattan. If all goes to plan by the time we commence our attack they should be at the upper most tip of Central Park."

"The 3rd Marine Regiment, those are some tough sons of bitches," Captain Van Zandt spoke up. He then looked up at the Colonel.

"Yes they are. I have the confidence that Lt. Colonel Vigosky and his troops will come through," Winters replied coolly, he turned to the TACMAP. "What's our objective sir?" asked a young Lieutenant from Indigo Company.

Winter touched a spot on the holo map and three miniature versions of the Covenants CCS- class Battlecruisers appeared over Central Park. One was slightly higher then the others and looked as if it was going to take off, "Our point of attack is this cruiser here," He pointed to one of the cruisers that was lower to the ground.

"Sangheili intelligence gave us reason to believe that this is one of the Brutes flagships in the area. I have been keeping a watch on it with F-99 UCAV's in the area and have come to the conclusion that this one is responsible for the majority of the troop deployments and heavy weapons."

"So what are the other Cruisers for?" Dyke inquired scratching his blond hair.

"We think that they were mainly there for earlier troop deployment," he indicated the ship above the others, "This one here seems like it is going to go into high orbit soon, more likely to join the space battle up there."

"Our fleet still kicking?" Van Zandt asked. He had remembered how only a few days ago he had seen the 8th Fleet alive and well. Then he learned a day later that they had been wiped out in the ongoing space battle. The fact that there were any ships left in the home fleet was amazing.

"Our boys are taking a beating but they're holding on. FLEETCOM is reporting that more ships from the inner colonies are arriving in ones and twos and are attempting to take back lost ground."

A chorus of agreements went up from the crowd until Winters silenced them with a raised hand, "Now while the Fleets fighting we got work to do on the ground."

The Colonel motioned to the same Cruiser from before. "This one is more likely going to slip away but we can still get the other one. We are going to save that one for the Elites so that they can take control of it and get back to their planet to help."

There was a murmur of resentment coming from the humans. Some not wanting to risk their lives to simply save a ship when they could easily destroy it. Winters had had enough, "Be quiet all of you. The Elites have proven that they are more then willing to put down their lives for us and we should be honored to do the same."

Cur, who had been sitting idle by for the meeting stood up, "Colonel do not let us be a burden on your men. You can destroy the second cruiser if you wish."

Winters shook his head, "Can't do that Field Marshall. You guys need to help your people and we aren't going to stand in the way of that." He seemed to be addressing his subordinates with those last few words. Cur nodded and bowed, "Thank you so much humans."

There were a few yeas and Okays but no one seemed enthusiastic about helping the Sangheili. It was Van Zandt who got back on topic, "What do you think the enemies' numbers are?"

Cur stroked his mandibles, "I would guess maybe a ship's load, so maybe 5,000 or so."

There were a few groans from the crowd. It was no secret that the 81st only had about 4,000 to start off with. Add in the Helljumpers and Army troops picked up along the way they probably didn't even touch 5,000. They had been fighting a outnumbered battle from the beginning.

"Don't worry;" Winters reassured, "The 3rd Regiment will bolster our numbers so that we nearly double that of the Covenants. And besides the Covenant have been dwindling in troops for the past couple days. Many are separated from the main group and we will easily rout them when we are done with the main force."

"How will we be executing this?" Dyke asked. He had gotten little sleep since coming back to base only a few hours ago, but he was ready and adrenaline would take over once the actual battle began.

"Glad you asked," Winters said. Central Park became highlighted in blue and multiple red squares appeared around the perimeter of the large landscape, "These are Covenant Gravity towers. They should have snipers and plasma cannons on them. We move in with Scorpions and Warthogs from these two entry points here." He pointed to three of the towers that formed the southern most tip of the ring.

"The tanks knock out the towers easily and the Warthogs move in to wipe out any stragglers in the area. Next infantry moves in on Armadillo's and Pelicans into the park and will engage enemy troops along this tree line. With that they move forward under the covering fire of the tanks and the hogs'. Our comrades in the Army have been so generous as to let us borrow a few of their Flacons. Combined with the few Hornets we currently have we could get a considerable air force going and take control of the skies."

"Sir," The Captain of Howard Company, Captain Sanders, spoke up, "You must be joking right. A few Hornets and Falcons aren't going to make a very impressive air force. We are going to need some more fire power."

"I have requested a few Longsword Strike Fighters from Fleet, but they are being pansies about it and saying they need every fighter for the space battle."

"Figures," Dyke retorted, "Fleet does the flying, and Marines do the dying."

It was true that there was some resentment to the Navy Swabbies from the regular marines. The Fleet usually got the credit for evacuating people from countless planets while valiantly holding the Covenant at bay in space. There were barely any stories of the marines valiantly holding the line or them fighting to the last man to save innocents. No there were only stories of the marines being pushed back yard by yard and losing countless planets to the Covvies.

"_However true that might be_," Winters said incognito, "We may still need their help to eradicate the Loyalist from this city." There was agreement from the crowd with that said.

"Now we are going to be destroying the main cruiser with this," a small hologram appeared above the map. It showed a small bomb looking device, "That is a Medium Fusion Destructive Device or MFDD. It is a Tactical nuclear device with a yield of 63 terajoules all in about the size of a football."

"I remember that being used in a mission a few months ago. Some Spartan team used it to knock out a Covenant Cruiser. If I remember one of them sacrificed himself just to destroy the thing," Van Zandt remarked.

"True and we are going to use it in a similar fashion to knock out our little cruiser problem." Van Zandt stepped forward, "Sir Request permission to deliver the nuclear device."

"Denied," Winters said bluntly, "No offense Captain but you are a little to far in your years to be doing stuff like this." The remark hurt. Van Zandt had made it his mission to always lead his men from the front and with Winters turning him down in such a way it hit him hard, but Winters was a Colonel and he was a superior officer."

"And besides," Winters went on, "You need to have a experience with explosives to handle something like this. What was that one demo man in Gunnery Sergeant Fenix's squad, Lombardi, Him he should carry the weapon."

Van Zandt nodded understanding.

"With that said, I want full three hundred degree cover on him until he gets to the ship, got it marines?"

"Oorah!" They all replied in unison. "Good now get tactical Marines we got some Covenant to kill."

As everyone began leaving Winters looked over the holo map. "Colonel Winters," a deep voice said behind him. He turned around to see the SpecOps Elite Azo behind him.

"What is it?" Winters inquired looking Azo up and down. Azo took a deep breath before saying, "Requesting your permission for an assassination mission on the Loyalist Leader Dractus sir."

"What's the need? Our forces will engage him when we assault the LZ."

Azo shook his head, "The coward will not be at the LZ or on any of the ships. He currently waits in our old Headquarters in one of the tallest buildings within the city."

Winters pondered on the words said to him for a moment. He then came to a conclusion, "Alright you are cleared for your mission. Take whomever you need, though I advise you stay at a squads limit."

"Thank you sir," Azo said before making his way to the door. _That bastard Dractus won't know what hit him. _

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Central Park, Aboard CCS class Battlecruiser **_**Incorruptible Truth**_**), Earth, Sol System**

Pacceus stepped off of the Phantom onto the _Incorruptible Truth's _hangar. He quickly made his way through the bowels of the ship. Jiralhanae that he passed stood to attention but the Chieftain was in to much of a hurry to return the gesture. He hurried until he reached the bridge. The auto doors slid open and he stepped onto the purple luminescent bridge.

The whole bridge crew stood to attention, Pacceus waved them off. He turned to the helmsman of the ship, "Is everything ready for take off?"

The helmsman nodded feebly, then looked at the ground before looking up at Pacceus, "Do you think it is wise to leave High Chieftain Dractus and the rest here, I mean they are our comrades and we must help. Plus we were supposed to begin glassing the city to slow the humans down."

Pacceus moved fast slamming into and pinning the terrified helmsmen on the wall, "Don't talk blasphemy here. You and I both agreed that Dractus has lost his mind. As we speak the humans are mobilizing to make their final assault on our ships. They have us completely surrounded and that stubborn buffoon wants to defend it to the last man."

"But the Hierarchs have tasked us to hold this city with our very lives," The helmsman stuttered.

Pacceus practically spit out his next line, "You can hold this city with your life! As for me I am taking this ship and heading back to Dosiac to live out the rest of my days not ruled by some spineless cowards who sit around all day on floating chairs, but by real warriors!"

There was a chorus of roars as the bridge crew agreed with the Chieftain. The helmsman looked defeated, "I'm sorry Chieftain Pacceus." Pacceus looked at the brute in disgust before letting him off the wall, "Have all the Jiralhanae that are loyal to Dractus been "sent" to the ground?"

The helmsman nodded as he returned to his station. Pacceus had had the helmsman make certain that the Jiralhanae loyal to Dractus were deployed to the ground to help with the defense. They took with them maybe a hundred Unggoy. The rest had stayed aboard and were preparing for take off.

"Recall all Phantoms and Banshee fliers," Pacceus ordered, "We leave now!"

Below on the LZ there was confusion in the air. Brutes, grunts and Jackals all stared up in shock and awe and witnessed one of their ships taking off over the city and away from the battlefield into high orbit.

The ships silhouette was barely outlined by the slowly rising sun.

Back at Echo Base, Fenix stood atop one of the guard towers watching the sun rise. He saw the Covenant cruiser leave and told himself that that was one less problem to worry about.

Marines and engineers were all hurrying this way and that, prepping for the upcoming offensive. Scorpions, Warthogs, Armadillos, and even Mongoose ATV's were lined up ready to go. Falcons and Hornets were getting fueled up and rearmed. Everyone was gearing up and soon the offensive would begin.

There was the sound of someone coming up the stairs to the top. He didn't even turn, from the solid steps and grunting of going up the stairs, he could tell it was Lombardi.

"Sir our Pelican is ready for take off," the demo man said almost out of breath. Fenix smiled and laughed; something rarely seen, "You look out of breath there Alex."

Lombardi chuckled and said, "Hell yea sir. Those stairs are a mission onto themselves."

Fenix smiled and patted his friend on the back, "Just don't get tired when you're carrying that bomb or we might all go up in flames."

"Wow, thanks for the encouragement," He responded back sarcastically. Fenix just smiled and placed his helmet on his head.

_It's Showtime._

**Author's Note: ****Well it is finally here; the epic conclusion of this great fic. It will span the length of two or three more chapters, I'll have to see. Also, I know this chapter was a little boring, but I threw in a sex scene haha joking. I didn't really want to get to explicit just in case there young readers reading so I left it at that. I want to thank you all for reading and reviewing and I want you guys to continue reading and reviewing. So…. Read and Review! **


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter Thirty Nine**

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Central Park), Earth, Sol System**

The Pelican shook and the ODST's inside braced themselves against the bulkhead as it did. "You want to keep this bird straight?" Lombardi said with a sarcastic sneer.

"Sorry fuck face, but it's hard to keep her straight when you're dodging fucking plasma blast out here," The pilot said before adding, "Hey tough guy, you want to drive?"

Lombardi shook his head and patted the MFDD he was cradling like a baby, "Sorry bud, but I got this bomb her and I wouldn't think it is right to have the one who's going to save all our asses do flying."

"Get over yourself," Essex said from his seat opposite of Lombardi, "You are treating this like it is some fucking game Alex, this is serious we have to hit that Cruiser now." Lombardi sulked away, knowing full of how desperate their situation was.

At exactly 0830 hours dozens of Scorpions, Armadillos, and all types of Warthogs left Echo Base and proceeded into the ruined landscape that had once been Manhattan. Up above countless Falcons, Hornets and Pelicans followed. The amount of noise was deafening.

At 0858 the huge group of vehicles ran into the first Covenant defenses at central park, starting the final battle in earnest. Scorpions split up into three teams of six each and quickly dispelled of the trio of assault towers that they were supposed to hit. With those out of the way the Hornets and Flacons began their strafing runs on the Covenant positions. While this was happening the warthogs armadillos and Scorpions that weren't busy moved into Central park.

Swarms of banshees quickly fell upon them and a few of the warthogs blew to bits under the opening salvo. The LRV's blurred away and the air was filled with lead and missiles from rocket pods. Countless Banshees fell out of the sky like flies.

The armadillo APCs positioned themselves behind this onslaught and unloaded their cargo; fully armored up marine infantrymen ready for combat. The marines quickly moved forward under the cover of their Armadillos auto turrets. .50 caliber rounds struck out at any Covenant unlucky to be in its line of sight.

The Loyalist responded with a vehicular force of their own. This force consisted of multiple ghost, choppers and a few prowlers. While the Falcons and Hornets dealt with the Banshees the Warthogs turned their attention to this new threat.

The Pelicans that were carrying troops had been instructed to stay back until an LZ could be cleared. After about five minutes of waiting some marines on the ground had gotten one cleared.

The pilot of the ODST's guided the Pelican into the assembly of Pelicans on the ground. "Good luck boys," The pilot said as the ODST's disembarked. Fenix's squad currently consisted of himself, Lombardi, Essex, Banks and Hawks. Li had gone with Jace, Ellie, Carmines and the Elite on some mission before everyone else left. Fenix hoped they were alright. If he was to die here he would regret not saying goodbye.

As the Pelicans ascended back into the sky, they kicked up a dust cloud into the faces of the debarking troops. Off to their right Captain Van Zandt led the remaining Helljumpers forward. On their left more marines were doing the same.

All around them for about two kilometers chaos was ensuing. Warthogs and ghost or choppers battled it out in a vehicular onslaught. Hornets, Falcons and Pelicans dueled it out in the sky. And hundreds of marines up and down the line were moving forward under a hail of plasma fire.

"Let move up!" Fenix barked. Lombardi cradled the bomb like a football and used his dominant right hand to fire his only weapon a M6G Magnum. When they were clear of the landing zone they moved to climb a low hill. When they got to its peak Lombardi could then see the real extent of damage.

Much of central park had become a wasteland of cut down or burned trees. Much of the grass had since died and was nothing but a greenish brown. The lake that had once inhabited the southern region of the 843 acres of park was now a tiny puddle at the bottom of a dried up lake bed.

The most noticeable difference was the monstrous cruiser that dwelled over the Great Lawn at the parks center. The Covenant ships glowed a Luminescent purple and out of their bowels came a few dropships loaded for bear.

It was Captain Van Zandt yelling over the COM, which brought him out of his trance, _"All units move up, we got to take out that cruiser before it lifts off!" _

Fenix heard it too and nodded turning to his men, "Squad we got to move. Give me three hundred sixty degree cover on Lombardi. And Alex keep that baby safe if you get hit, we will all go up in flames." Everyone nodded and created a loose defensive circle around the demo man.

They and a few other dozen marines moved into the lake bed and began to engage the enemy. It was mostly grunts and a few Jackals. Lombardi got a precise head shot on a grunt causing it to actually do a complete flip before slamming into the ground. The marines all moved up in pairs.

An entire squad was blown to bits by a strafing Banshee unleashing its fuel rod gun. Lombardi had no time to check if there were any survivors, he and the other ODST had to move as fast as possible.

A lance of Jackals came over the rim of the lake bed in wedge formation. Their glowing energy shields protecting most of their body. "Get a grenade up and over the formation!" Fenix ordered. Almost instantly four well aimed grenades were tossed into the midst of the Jackal formation. The vulture aliens were thrown threw the air by the succeeding blast.

The Helljumpers quickly moved upon the survivors, who were too dazed to return fire. The marines got to the other side of the lake bed. After some exhausting climbing they got over the rim to be hold a depressing sight.

Four Wraith Tanks and at least two score Covenant ranging from Grunt to Brute and even a Hunter pair waited for them. The mortars of the Wraith were glowing signaling it was ready to fire. The golden armored Captain Brute sneered as he signaled for the Wraiths to fire.

Then, one moment they were there and then they the Wraiths had become a wreck or charred metal and flesh. A shadow enveloped them and Lombardi looked up just in time to see two Longsword Fighters fly overhead.

"Looks like the Fly-boys finally decided to join the fight," Banks remarked. Fenix nodded, "Oorah. Let's not let them get all the kills." The squad then moved forward, closer to the cruiser and the Covenants timely defeat.

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Jace was the last one to step off the Pelican Dropship. He, Ellie, Carmine, Li and Azo all stepped back as the Pelican ascended back into the sky. "Good luck guys, I will pick you up after you are done," the pilot told them.

Jace thanked the pilot and then looked down at his new armor. It was basic ODST ballistic armor, but he had added his trade mark _Born 2 Kill _on the front.

They all checked their weapons and equipment and then looked to Azo for guidance. Azo nodded and indicated with his head over to their east. They all looked in that direction. It was nothing but buildings, buildings and more buildings. Although there was one thing that stood out; a large skyscraper that towered over the others.

"That," Azo began, "Is where my Sangheili brothers and I established our headquarters when we first came to this planet." They all stared blankly at it as the Elite continued, "Then the bastard High Chieftain of the Brutes Dractus came with his wretched horde and they defeated my brothers and I in battle. Although we took many of them to the afterlife with us."

"So that Dractus guy is still there?" Carmine inquired staring at the distant building.

Azo nodded, "Yes, the fool still hides within his fortress of solitude and we will kill him." Jace looked the building over again; it had an ominous feeling to it. Deep down inside he felt some form of evil creeping up on the recesses of his mind. He shook the thought away and turned to the others, "Well that place looks far away we better get moving now."

The others nodded in agreement and they began their trek to the Brute HQ. It was a good half hour before they stood within the shadows of an alley across from the entrance of the building. A squad of Brute Minors stood guard outside. Jace turned to Carmine and Ellie signaling for grenades.

With a grunt all three lobbed their grenades at the Brutes.

Three

Two

Boom

The resulting explosion had blasted the limbs off of most of the brutes. The remains of the aliens were slumped on the dry, dirty asphalt, a puddle of purple blood slowly oozing out.

"Come on!" Jace shouted. The group charged across the street towards the entrance. At literally the same time a trio of Brutes came out of the doors. Both groups fired almost simultaneously. It had lasted only a second but it was a disastrous second.

Li lay on the ground motionless. Two spikes were impaled in his chest. His sniper lay discarded on the ground. It took Jace a few seconds to realize what happened, it was when Ellie ran up to him and looked him over and began feeling his pulse did he react.

"Ricky!" Jace ran up almost pushing Ellie out of the way. He was motionless his head looked up with a blank stare that you couldn't see anyways because of his silver visor. He fell to his knees and began sobbing. Ellie, through crying of her own said, "He's gone Jace. He's gone."

The two cried conspicuously together for a few moments. Azo and Carmine looked on. They to were sad by the loss of their teammate but because they really didn't know him that well they couldn't feel what Jace and Ellie were feeling.

After a few minutes Jace stood up and walked over to the dead brute carcasses. "Jace what are you doing baby?" sobbed Ellie.

Without warning Jace pulled out his M6 and fired an entire clip into one of the brutes faces. Then he pulled off his helmet and spit onto each brute corpse. When he was finished effectively defiling the bodies he walked back over to his friends and said, "Lets go, we are going to kill every fucking one of them and avenge Li's death."

No one said anything until Carmine spoke up, "What about the body?"

"We will have to leave it and come back when we get evac." Carmine nodded and followed behind his comrades as they entered the building.

Inside they were met with a slight problem. The elevators seemed to be out and their only way of reaching the top was the stairs. This happened to be at least a hundred or so floors. Carmine did a low whistle, "That's going to be quite a climb."

"Aye," Azo chipped in, "When me and my comrade Huze first came here we had to transverse this flight of stairs. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do such a thing again."

"Well it's the only way up there, so we take it up," Jace snapped at them. He sullenly began the long trek up the stairs. Ellie was right next to him the whole time comforting him. Azo and Carmine looked at each other then followed after the others.

The climb up the stairs was tiring. By the fiftieth floor they were practically crawling up, but they still persevered and continued on.

As they got to near the top floor a trio of three brutes began firing down on their position and throwing grenades. "Take cover!" Ellie shouted.

"Where?" inquired an annoyed Carmine. A plasma grenade landed near Carmine. Azo leapt forward and shielded his friend from the blast. His shields dissipated, but otherwise he was unscathed.

"Thanks," Carmine said a little shaken up. Jace unhooked a frag grenade and tossed it up onto the landing. It went off after a two seconds. It didn't kill any of the brutes but it drained their shields and forced them back through the only room on the floor.

"Lets go get em'!" Jace shouted venomously charging up onto the landing and to the room where the brutes fell back to. Ellie was right on his heels. Azo and Carmine were behind a little as they had been recovering form the grenade blast when the black ODST charged.

Jace stormed the room. He instantly fired a burst from his BR into the head of a brute. Ellie came in behind him. Suddenly one of the brutes threw a plasma grenade at both their feet.

Time seemed to slow as Jace looked from Ellie; who hadn't seen the grenade, to the glowing blue sphere at his feet. What he did next was more instinct then anything else. He leapt upon the grenade and smothered it with his body.

The explosion was muffled by the ODST, but Ellie was blown off her feet. Jace was thrown up and against the wall by the explosion. His blood left a stain on the wall as he slumped to the ground.

At that moment Azo stepped into the fight. He was upon the brute who had thrown the grenade in a second. The brute could only watch with horror as the Elite moved behind him swiftly and impaled him through the back with his energy sword.

Azo turned the lifeless brute around and used the Jiralhanae's plasma rifle to fire at the remaining brute. After this was done he deactivated his energy sword allowing the lifeless corpse to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.

He turned his attention back to the others. Ellie was crouched down next to Jace. He was in bad shape. The grenade had easily blown a hole in his chest. Plus pieces of his armor seemed to be lodged in part of his abdomen. Blood was seeping out of multiple wounds and leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Ellie had her helmet off and was going through her rucksack looking for medical supplies to use on him, all the while crying her heart out. Jace looked up at her with dazed eyes, "Ellie. Don't waste your time….. I'm not going to make it and you know that."

"No!" she cried, "There's still a chance please Jace don't leave me I love you." Jace reached up with feeble hands, "I love you too baby." She leaned down and kissed him on the lips for a good half minute. After this was done Jace turned his head to Carmine, "Hey Rookie, it was a pleasure serving with you. You survive this war and take care of Ellie and the others."

Carmine nodded feebly. He couldn't see his face, but by the way his shoulders were shaking Azo could tell he was crying, "You got it si... I mean Jace. I'll try my best."

Jace smiled and looked up at Ellie again, "I hear it's pretty nice in heaven, no war, no problems." Ellie was full out crying now, tears streamed down her face and her face bloody from where her head was resting on his chest, "It is baby, it is."

Jace patted her head, "I'll say hi to Ricky, Weathers and all the others for you." And that was it. Corporal Jacen Cole of Alpha Company 2nd Battalion of the 105th division passed on to the afterlife. But he went on knowing he was a hero and saving the one's he loved.

Ellie cried horrendously now. Carmine sat down and was rocking back and forth. He was muttering something under his breath and it was only after he listened closely that he heard, "We are dropping like flies. First Li, now Jace. Jace was fucking unstoppable. How did they get him? How?" Azo knew that he was going into shock and would need care soon, but first he had to comfort Ellie.

"Ellie?" he said placing a scaly claw on her shoulder. What came out didn't sound like her it sounded like some sort of demonic voice, "Kill him."

"What?"

She whirled around and with the blood and tears on her face and her hair a mess she looked scary, "Kill that bastard Brute Chieftain. Kill him for Jace and Ricky, for everybody just kill him and end this please!"

Azo nodded, "I will human Ellie, and I promise you that." With that he turned and proceeded down the hall. As he went he came across the body of one of his deceased Sangheili brothers. It was another SpecOps soldier. Next to the soldier was a deactivated energy sword. He knelt down and turned it on to see if it worked. When he saw that it did he bent down and honored his fallen brother. Then he proceeded on ready to kill anything in his way to get to Dratus.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter Forty **

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan (Central Park), Earth, Sol System**

The Helljumpers moved into the forest that preceded the Great Lawn. To call it a forest was an over statement, it was more of burnt husk of what had once been a beautiful wilderness.

_Reminds me so much of Nexus and the day Weathers was killed,_ Lombardi thought to himself as he followed his squad through the trunks. All around them other ODST and marines charged forward engaging the Covenant Loyalist on a multiple fronts.

Lombardi pulled the MFDD closer to his body and took aim with his free hand. Two grunts were left lifeless on the floor after two precise shots from the Italian ODST.

The trees in front of them suddenly exploded showering them with scores of splinters. "Fuck!" Fenix shouted tackling Banks out of the way of a tree falling. "What the hell is that?" inquired Essex looking around for the source of the explosion.

"It's our own goddamn mortars," Fenix explained getting up off Banks, "Those idiots must have this area pre sighted for mortar fire." Ass he was saying this multiple more mortars came down all around the area. Lombardi heard the screams of agony from both Covenant and marines alike.

"What do we do?" asked a quickly panicking Hawks. Fenix motioned forward, "Push through and break the Covenant lines." They moved forward and soon the forest turned from flat land into a gradual slope of a hill. As they began to crest the hill, Lombardi caught sight of someone coming out of the smoke of a nearby mortar strike. He gasped when he saw it was a marine missing half his head and most of his left arm. Lombardi was about to call for a corpsman, but then the marine fell over dead before he could.

Someone must have told the mortar men to desist, because the fire slowly stopped. The Helljumpers climbed the hill firing at the multitude of Covenant at the top firing down on them. Lombardi had the hardest time climbing the fort five degree hill as he had only one arm to support himself. They climbed and fired, shifting from trench to stump to rock as they made their way up the hill. They weren't the only one's charging the hill; a squad of marines was assisting them, but they had been pinned down at the crest of the hill by the Covenant.

He now knew what those men were thinking and went through when they stormed Omaha beach in Normandy back in 1944. He had slightly put it off in basic training as not likely to happen again with all the technology humans' possessed now, but he was dead wrong. This was hell. He was a Helljumper however and this was nothing but a daily grind for him. With a grunt of satisfaction at his pun he continued on after his comrades.

Fenix ordered the squad to halt about thirty meters from the marines. He motioned to Essex to follow him and the pair crawled up to the squad of pinned marines. He found the sergeant of the squad. It was Sergeant Pavlov of Lieutenant Dyke's Company.

"Sergeant! What is the skinny?" Fenix shouted over the din of gunfire. Pavlov fired a burst from his BR and ducked back down as he was met with a hail of plasma fire. "We are pinned Gunny! How ever much of the Mudak's we put down it seems like two take its place." Fenix peered over the rim of the trench they were taking cover in. He ducked down quickly as a purple lance of fire zipped by his head. He turned to Pavlov and said, "You and your boys lay down suppressive fire here, I'll flank around through the trench and hit them from the top." He signaled Essex to follow him. Pavlov shouted "Suppressive fire!" and blind fired over the rim hoping to hit something.

As the pair of ODST made their way through the trench and up and around the Covenant defenses Essex began to complain, "Ugh, why do I get stuck with all the suicidal jobs?"

"Do you ever stop bitching," Fenix said feeling he has heard this many times over the last few days. Essex depolarized his helmet revealing a huge grin, "I'm a soldier, we gripe. It's in our blood."

Fenix shook his head, "We were soldiers, my Mexican friend. This battle… this whole war we aren't fighting for new land or to defend our home planet. We are just fighting to survive." While that dawned in Essex's mind Fenix forged on ahead. Essex came to quickly and followed his officer.

The two got to onto a small bluff overlooking The Covenants position. "There's a shitload of them down there," Essex remarked. There were at least a dozen Jackals and grunts led by a handful of brutes. They were oblivious to the ODST next to them.

"You know what to do," Fenix said unclipping a grenade and heaving it. Essex followed suit. The resulting explosion killed most of the grunts and turned the unprotected Jackals into ribbons. The brutes' shields were drained though the brutes themselves were still alive. What happened next still amazed Fenix to this day. Over the rim of the hill charged Pavlov's men followed by Fenix's own men. More Marines came from a position father east and together they all fired their weapons into the five unprotected brutes. All the while screaming like mad men.

He actually felt a slight ping of sorrow for the brutes as he watched them go down under a storm of gunfire, but the pain quickly went away as he realized that for once the Covenant were on the defensive, they were the vulnerable ones.

He watched as his men fired every last bit of ammo they had in their gun currently and realized that if they kept this up they'll blow through their ammo. "Cease fire, cease fire," he said jumping off the bluff down to the carnage, "Conserve your ammo."

Hawks hurried over to him frantically saying, "Sir we just got word that Field Marshall Kasamee and his Elites have boarded the other Cruiser and are in the process of taking it over as we speak."

Fenix looked out into the Great Lawn. The Cruisers gravity lift was about a hundred fifty yards away. Between them and the lift, however was a last line of defense of scrambled Covenant defenders; their last line of defense. He swore he saw glimpses of marines of the 3rd regiment on the far side of the lawn making their way to the cruiser from the north. He turned to Lombardi, "Alex we need to take out that cruiser now, let's move." Pavlov stepped up saluting, "Gunny thanks for ze save back there. Me and my squad will provide more covering fire to you and your boys." Fenix nodded, "Thanks Sergeant. Marines let's do this!"

Cur ducked around the corner as plasma splashed onto the bulkhead his head had been occupying a second before. He blind fired his plasma rifle around the corner hoping to score a kill on his would be attacker. Behind him a dozen Sangheili (all that was left of his original group), prepared for regrouped and prepared to charge on their leaders orders.

The maroon armored Sangheili checked the charge left on his weapon then looked back his comrades giving a nod. At once they charged around the corner. Three Brutes and twice that many grunts were defending the tight corridor. They were quickly dispatched and the Sangheili moved forward.

They had battled alongside the humans until they got to the grav lift of the cruiser. From there they had let the humans dispatch the rest of the Loyalist in the area, while he led his Sangheili warriors into the bowels of the ship. He so far had lost four Sangheili this far in and he wasn't trying to lose anymore.

"Police the bodies of their weapons," he ordered looking over the dead corpses. A major domo picked up a spiker and looked at it in disgust, "Why should we use the bastards' weapons. These primitive things aren't fit in the hands of mighty warriors like us."

Cur whirled on him delivering a swift slap across the incompetent Sangheilis' mandibles, "Fool, don't you see the desperation of our situation. Our weapons are low on charge and you won't use the enemies over the fact of honor. To hell with honor, we are just trying to survive here. I don't believe in any journey or any of that bullshit the prophets or our own ancestors bestowed upon us. All I care about is getting everyone safe out of here. If you aren't with us then you are against us and at this point I would kill you accordingly."

The other Sangheili present had stopped and stared as they watched their leader deal out swift punishment. Cur was surprised of himself. He had used the human swear _bullshit_, which he had never done before. Maybe the humans were rubbing off on him.

The major domo straightened up and saluted, "Sorry Field Marshall, it was a moment of weakness. I shall continue on the mission." Cur nodded and waved him off. Vuku' walked up to him, "Sir a few of our Brothers and I scouted ahead to the bridge and it seems that the Brutes have sealed themselves in."

Cur brushed past the Sangheili minor hurriedly, "We must be quick and take the bridge before the Jiralhanae take of into orbit and regroup with their fleet." The others followed him as they all moved quickly to the bridge.

A few of his Sangheili were already there trying to pry the door open. One of them turned to address him, "Field Marshall th…" Cur cut him off and drew his energy sword and a plasma grenade. He stuck the grenade to the seam of the door and primed it. "Fire in the hole!" he shouted taking a step back. With a loud boom the door blew inwards and Cur flew through the open gap.

The helmsman had a surprised look on his face as Cur came at him. The brute made a grab for the spiker on his hip, but it was too late. Cur sliced through his neck cleanly in one swipe. The head rolled to the side.

The other Sangheili quickly moved in and slew the rest of the bridge crew. A couple of Sangheili removed the bodies from the bridge as Cur mounted the commander's chair.

"Sir!" Vuku' said from one of the monitoring stations, "Loyalist reinforcements coming from the East on Phantoms. They will overrun our comrade's positions on the ground quickly." They must've been the Loyalist that had been within the city when the battle started.

Cur knew he had to think fast, "Arm the pulse lasers and get them ready to fire on those reinforcements." The Sangheili in charge of the weapon systems nodded and pushed a few buttons on the console he was manning.

With a satisfying screech he felt the ship rumble slightly as the light purple streaks of plasma shot out from the sides and underbelly of the ship. They targeted and shot down many of the Phantoms a hundred feet below and turned the large group of reinforcements into a large barbeque.

A rare smile cracked across Cur's face as he watched the brutes' burn at the hands of their own weapons. Vuku' interrupted him, "Sir, what of the other cruiser, shall we fire on it."

Cur shook his head, "No the lasers would be too strong, and our human comrades are too close, we would need a precise weapon that is accurate to take it out. We will have to put our trust into the marines to take out that cruiser."

Lombardi and dozens of other marines and ODST charged out into the open ground. This was a desperation move, but it had to be done. The Covenant defenders let lose with everything they had, they were in desperation mode too. Lead and plasma filled the air.

A marine next to him went down with a plasma round through the head. He knew a Jackal sniper was out there somewhere but he couldn't do anything about it now. He just hoped the sneaky bastard didn't zero in on him.

A banshee flew overhead and began raking them with plasma. A marine with a M41 SSR MAV got into a crouching position locked on and fired at the Covenant flier. The missile slammed into the flier's undercarriage and the whole thing went down in blue flames.

The Loyalist defensive line was tough and all they could hope was that they cut a swathe through their lines to allow him to get to the cruiser. Something flew overhead and at first Lombardi thought it was another Banshee but was filled with relief when he saw it was a Falcon.

"_This is Harvest 2-8,"_ The pilot said as his gunners raked the covenants line with .50 rounds, "_We got you covered." _Lombardi smiled and watched loyalist after loyalist fall over dead as the combination of the infantry and Falcons gunners got them.

The Falcon lasted about five seconds before a green fuel rod gun discharge flew up and slammed into the cockpit. The Falcon went down like a rock and exploded on impact with the ground.

A piece of shrapnel flew out from the wreckage and bisected a poor marine in half. She landed in a pile of her own intestines screaming at the top of her lungs. It could have chilled even the hardest mans blood.

He didn't wait for Fenix to tell him to get to the grav lift; he did it on his own. He went forward through the mass of Covenant corpses. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, but it was too late to react.

A Banshee flew over head. It didn't fire it simply boosted and then it arced around and headed straight for Lombardi. It unleashed a Fuel rod cannon onto the lone ODST.

Carter saw this and sprinted towards his friend. The shot missed Lombardi and instead impacted the ground at his feet. He was thrown into the air and landed with a solid thump. The MFDD landed a few feet away from him.

Fenix and a couple other marines fired their weapons quickly slaying the Brute. "Lombardi!" Fenix shouted kneeling down by his comrade and lifting his head up onto his lap.

"How bad is it Gunny?" Lombardi said barely audible. Fenix looked him over. The demo man had had his left arm blown off all the way to above the elbow. His visor was cracked and he could see Lombardi's right eye through the maw. Splotches of blood dotted his armor from where contusions and fractures happened.

"You never looked better," he said with a smile, though it was just a façade to cover up his sadness. If he didn't get his friend some medical assistance soon, then he would surely die. Banks and Essex ran up behind him. "Shit Lombardi are you okay?"

Fenix answered for him, "No idiot, we no get on the horn and radio in medevac." Essex did as instructed, while Banks examined the MFDD, "Sir we got a problem, that blast must have fried the bombs timer because t isn't going off anymore."

Fenix swore out loud. Essex got of the COM and turned to his Gunnery Sergeant, "Got bad news for ya Gunny. Medevac bird isn't going to be able to come for a while. They say there's too much evac that need doing already."

"Shit can this get any worst," Fenix yelled out to no one in particular. Hawks seemed to answer that with his shouting, "Aw shit. That cruiser is starting up its energy projector!"

True to Hawkins words, the underside of the nose of the cruiser was lighting up and beginning to glow a light purple.

"_Fuck that cruiser is going to glass the area. All units within the area fall back! I repeat fall back!" _Captain Van Zandt shouted over the COM. Marines around them began to disengage from the enemy and run in the opposite direction of the cruiser. Hell even the remaining Loyalist on the ground near them were running for their lives, realizing that their ship dwelling comrades had betrayed them. Fenix knew he couldn't carry Lombardi out of the area fast enough. He threw his body on top of the demo man. He was willing to sacrifice himself for the slim chance that it would protect his friend. Hawks, Essex and Banks also knew they were too close and simply looked up at the cruiser waiting for the inevitable.

Fenix shut his eyes and listened to the whine as the energy projector prepared to fire. Then there was a loud sound; which sounded like a giant cannon being fired, then there was an explosion.

"Glassing doesn't sound like that," he thought to himself as he opened his eyes.

A large shadow passed over them darkening a large portion of the area. The cruisers energy projector had been hit and seemed to be disabled. He looked and almost cried when he saw it was the UNSC Frigate, and not just any Frigate but the _UNSC Marlow. _He thought he would have never heard the voice that spoke next, _"This is Captain Morgan of the UNSC Marlow. All UNSC units be advised we are firing another MAC round into the ship. You guys miss me?" _

The COM was filled with cheers and hoorays from the marines. The Marlow looked in bad shape. It was scarred badly from plasma burns and much of its paint had come off. One of its back thrusters appeared to be slightly damage and venting atmosphere. It was so badly scarred that most of the words _Marlow_ written on the side had been burned away making it barely legible. How it had survived the battle up in space for over a week he would never know, but it still seemed fit enough to attack and that's all that mattered.

The tip of the _Marlow's _nose where its MAC cannon was located lit up a bright golden color. It turned into a small sphere and with a loud boom it shot out in a clean straight line and gutted the Cruiser straight through the side. Smoke billowed from the gaping hole and the cruiser began to fall to the ground. It made that high pitched whizzing noise that sounded like bombs falling all around you, but it was ten times greater. The cruiser slammed into the ground with a ground shaking thump. It kicked up a huge cloud of dust that shot out from under the wreckage.

Fenix covered Lombardi as the dust cloud enveloped them blocking out the sun. He made sure to cover his demo mans cracked face plate to stop the dust going in. All around them marines battled against the remnants of the Loyalist. Due to all the dust all anyone could do was fire forward and hope they hit an enemy combatant. Plasma glowed a luminescent blue or a sickly green as it flew through the dust filled air. Tracer rounds were visible as the Warthogs fired, but other then that no one could see where their rounds ended up.

As the dust settled Fenix could see that the Loyalist had been defeated. Their bodies splayed out all over the area where they so valiantly defied the marines. Marines were cheering and hollering as they too realized that the Covenant were defeated. He spotted marines from the 3rd Regiment get atop the downed cruiser and begin cheering. Marines from his own side rushed to the ship to join them. Others took to discharging every last bit of ammo they had in their weapons.

"Hell ya!" Essex exclaimed, giving Banks and Hawks a high five, "We smoked those Covenant bastards."

Lombardi, who had been unknowingly unconscious for quite some time awoke slowly. He groggily asked, "Gunny, did…did we win?" Fenix took off his helmet and let it drop to the floor. Tears ran down his scarred cheek as he replied, "Yea Lombardi, we won…we won."

"That's good," Lombardi replied looking up at the sky, "So Gunny, are we still just survivors?" Fenix cracked a smile, "No Lombardi, we _are_ Soldiers and we will always be. Through thick or through thin we always come out on top."

"Oorah," Alex Lombardi exclaimed before falling back into unconsciousness. The Medivac Pelican flew over top of them and slowly descended down. A crew Chief and two medics hopped out. After quickly checking over Lombardi and pumping bio foam into him they got him into a stretcher and put him into the blood tray of the pelican. "Get some rest Lombardi," Fenix said to his knocked out friend as he was lifted away, "You earned it."

All around marines went on cheering and celebrating. In the sky the _Marlow_ and the newly christened Sangheili ship the _Spirit of the Vanquished_ floated triumphantly. Fenix high five and congratulated his squad mates and Captain Van Zandt; who had joined his squad along with the other ODST of Alpha Company.

Fenix looked up at the sun and was surprised to see it was setting. It was well into the evening. They had left Echo Base at 0800 hours. It was now 1700 hours into the day. They had been at battle for over eight hours!

_Well time does seem to always fly when you are doing something you enjoy,_ the career marine thought to himself. And now that he had time to think, he was beginning to worry about the rest of his squad. They hadn't radioed in yet, but he wasn't that worried. Jace was a contempt leader and Fenix was going to be sure to promote him to Sergeant when this was all over.

**October 27, (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

Dractus was beyond psychotic at this point. If he had been human he would have been referred to an insane asylum. What really had set him off was when he had learned of Pacceus' treachery. The bastard had radioed in to Dractus just as his ship was leaving. After gleefully telling him of his master plan to escape the wretched human world and leave him and his idiotic followers for dead at the hands of the humans, Pacceus wished Dractus good luck and that had been the end of that.

In his fit of rage Dractus trashed his throne room, nothing stood like it had been before. It looked as if a tornado had come through. He also dismissed his personal guard. They had left about an hour and a half ago and he hadn't heard from them since.

He stood waiting at the open landing pad that led into the throne room waiting for a Phantom that would never come. In the distance the sounds of battle from the park were slowly dying down. "My warriors must've been triumphant," he reassured himself, though deep down inside he knew they had failed and he was destined to die on this pitiful planet.

He thought of his home of Dosiac. The luscious forest he hunted thorn beast in when he was young. The oceans he would go swimming with his tribe mates when they were in their adolescent years. Even the mighty forge mountain in which his tribe had lived in. He would never see any of it again. And all for what, some Prophets who would sacrifice all of his kind just to find the forerunner Dreadnought. He was starting to see the flaws in the Covenant system and was reconsidering the truth of the Great Journey.

His thinking was interrupted by the sounds of light footsteps behind him. He knew it wasn't one of his brutes. "So you finally have come assassin."

Azo didn't hide the anger in his voice, "Yes I have Brute. Your time has come you will die right here and right now!"

Dractus decided to taunt his opponent a little before he would kill him; he turned around and addressed the Elite, "Ha is that what your Sangheili brothers thought when they were all slain here not but a week ago." Azo knew what the brute was trying to get him off his guard by taunting him, "Save it Dractus you bastard. I will avenge the death of every Sangheili and human that died fighting your wretched horde within this city."

Dractus grinned showing sharp white teeth, "Ha, you and your kind working with the humans. Don't you realize that the humans are backed into a corner and only using you and your comrades until this is all over? Once it is done they will turn on you and kill you."

It was Azos' turn to smile, "The humans have shown that they are more then capable of handling themselves and they would've defeated your Loyalist fiends without our help. Now prepare to die Brute as I will slay you!"

Dractus' grin never left his face, "You will try." He moved a lot faster then Azo anticipated. He barely had time to duck before the brute was upon him swinging his _Fist of Tabegon _Gravity Hammer in a lateral motion. Azo activated the energy sword in his left hand and thrust at the brutes' abdomen. Dractus evaded to the side and skidded to a halt using the hammer as leverage.

However psychotic he may be, it didn't matter when it came to fighting. Dractus was a natural born warrior and fighting was in his blood. If anything the insanity just gave him more rage. "Aww poor little Elite, surprised papa Dractus is a better warrior then you thought?"

Azo could tell something was off about the brute, but he couldn't figure it out. Dractus shifted to the right a little and the sun glistened off of his crimson armor unintentionally blinding Azo, who had been observing the brute. Dractus moved to capitalize on this sudden advantage. He moved forward and made a swing motion down to crush the Elite. Azo evaded to the side, making the hammer create a crater in the ground and came at him with both energy swords drawn.

The two entered a dangerous dance. Both moving to hit one another but being stopped short by the others defensive skill. To anyone watching it would have been one of the most epic thing s they had ever witnessed.

Azo saw an opening and lunged with his left hand, keeping the right one back for defensive purposes. Dractus easily stepped to the side avoiding it and then slapped the sword out of his hand. With his hammer holding hand the Brute Chieftain brought it around for another lateral swing. Azo ducked and rolled forward. Dractus continued his spin with the sword and Azo swung too.

Azos' sword sliced clean through Dractus' right arm, just below the shoulder joint. The brute let out a roar of agony, but used the adrenalin from the pain to deliver a massive backhand to Azos'; who was to close to dodge, face. The Elite felt his two left mandibles break and tasted blood as he was thrown ten feet back against the nearby wall. He landed with a thud on his right side.

He tried to rise to his feet but was kicked to the floor by Dractus. "Pitiful fool, you really thought you could beat the Chieftain of the Brutes. You a lowly Sangheili soldier, ha I really thought you could do more." For every couple words Dractus would deliver another blow with his feet. Azo cried out in pain and cringed into a ball to avoid any more torment. Dractus grabbed the Elite by the collar of armor and threw him back towards the center of the room.

Azo landed even harder then last time, but this time he landed next to his other sword. He made a grab for it, but Dractus kicked him in the side. Azos' hands instantly reached down to try to comfort the wound. Dractus saw the sword and picked it up, "Now I will kill you with your very own weapon. It will be the ultimate dishonor on your part and you would be forever saken within the afterlife."

Azo had no clue what he was talking about, but he knew this was the end. He was too exhausted to continue on fighting. _"I'm sorry Huze, Jace and all the others I am not going to be able to avenge you. _ He closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable. Dractus activated the twin prongs and raised his hand to deliver the killing blow.

Two gunshots hit him square in the back of the hand making him flinch and drop the sword. Dractus turned around to see Ellie standing there with a silenced M6C. The silencer had made whispers out of the gunshots. She looked even more deranged then before. And the hate in her eyes was very prominent.

Dractus reacted before she could even get a shot off. He quickly closed the gap between them and hit her with a powerful upwards open palm slap that made contact with her chin. She did a complete flip back wards and landed with a thump on the remains of Dractus' throne.

Azo took advantage of this and with the last of his strength picked up his energy sword and activated both. He charged the brute. Dractus turned around but it was too late. He felt heavier all of a sudden and looked down to see that his left leg had been chopped off as well. Azo shoulder charged the Brute Chieftain to the ground and leapt atop him.

He raised his energy swords and literally shouted, "Now die!" He plunged the twin swords into the brutes' chest. Dractus let out a silent scream as he slowly died. Azo wasn't done yet however and withdrew one of his swords. With a powerful sideways swipe he decapitated the brute. Dractus' head rolled out of the crimson helmet and came to a stop just short of the throne. A look of agony forever painted on his face.

Azo sat atop the brutes' headless corpse and breathed heavily. The exhaustion from this whole day was beginning to kick in. The sounds of someone groaning brought him back to reality. He quickly got up and made his way over to his friend. Ellie was played out on the throne. She had a bruise on her face and her hair was a mess but other than that she looked okay.

Azo lifted her head slightly, "Ellie, come on wake up."

Ellie opened her eyes and looked up, "Did you do it Azo? Did you kill the Brute?" Azo smiled, tears slightly coming down his broken mandibles, "yes friend _we _did it."

"That's good," she replied, "Help me up." Azo did as asked and the two supported each other as they made their way towards the landing pad to get some fresh air. The sky was a dark tinge of orange. Shadows crept all along the walls of multiple buildings as the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon.

Huge pillars of spiraling smoke could be seen in the distance towards Central Park. "Seems like the battle is over. Do you think the others won?" Ellie inquired as she held onto Azo for support.

Azo smiled, "I am positive our friends have defeated the Loyalist scum. Otherwise there would be a lot of Phantoms coming our way to _protect_ their chieftain." Ellie nodded, "True," she looked out into the sunset, "Isn't it wonderful… the sunset. It's like warmth of a sweet embrace, stilling your heart. It's what I look forward to seeing in the morning to know that I'm alive."

"That's very deep Ellie." Ellie giggled to herself, but it instantly turned to a frown, "Jace will never see another sunset." Azo knew that it was time to comfort her, "Jace was a brave soldier. Had he been a Sangheili he would have easily made the rank of Zealot in no time. Right now he's in a better place and know that he will always be looking out for you because he loves you… and I do too."

Ellie was slightly taken aback by the Elites comment. Just a few days ago she would have put his kind down as heartless killers, now one was as close to her as any person, "Thank you Azo. I love you too." The two embraced which at first was a little weird for Azo but he caught on fast. After that they radioed in for a pickup and went back to where Carmine waited with the bodies of Jace and Ricky; two best friends who died best friends and as soldiers.

**Author's Note: ****Well that is it. This has been one of the most memorable experiences I have ever took part in. I will remember doing this for all of my lifetime. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without all my readers and support. Truthfully I was planning to stop writing this about halfway, but it was the urging by multiple viewers to keep going that made me decide to continue. It was you guy's who made this fanfic what it is and I thank you hugely for that. **

**I will be writing a short epilogue to the story just to show what happens to everyone as time went on. It should be out sometime this week.**

**I will be writing my other Fanfics more fluently now, but I will be taking sometime off just to sit back and relax. Once again thank you everyone for reading and hope the best for you all.**

**xXChrisdabeastXx **


	41. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**March 4, 2553****,**** (Military Calendar) /**

**Manhattan, Earth, Sol System**

A Pelican swayed back and forth as it went through the many skyscrapers of Manhattan. Many of the buildings within the city had been destroyed during the Seven day Battle for Manhattan, but now reconstruction was in the process. After the battle the government hired multiple construction companies to begin the rebuilding of many downed buildings and the infrastructure of the city. They felt that too much had been lost and fought over to simply let the city go turn into the wasteland it so badly looked like. The construction companies got right on it. After the majority of the buildings had been cleared out the many companies; some of which were fierce rivals with one another, all sought to make New York City the once great city it had been.

Now there were hundreds of cranes strewn within the city and thousands of workers working their hardest to construct. Civilians hadn't been allowed to re enter the city yet. It was deemed to dangerous with all the construction happening and the unstable infrastructure.

A figure sat motionless in the troop bay of a Pelican. The figure was a man, about 6'1 with brownish blonde hair. He was only in his early twenties but you would have thought he was at least thirty by the slightly graying hair and the wrinkles and slight scars on his face.

The man fiddled with the dress cap in his hands, nervously tapping the top of it. There was a trio of equal formal dressed men sitting opposite of him. One of them noticed the nervous look on his face, "You okay man?"

The man looked up, "Yeah, yeah I'm good, just a little nervous is all." The other marine nodded and continued on conversing with his friends. The man sat back and stared out the open troop bay door at the multiple buildings remembering the horror of it all. He shook his head putting the thought to the back of his mind and sat back resting his eyes.

The Pelican flew into Central Park. The park had been all but destroyed during the final assault of the battle. There were only a handful of healthy trees left after the battle. The rest had been burned to a stump or completely obliterated, along with most of the grass and much of the water within the lake had been used up during the Loyalists' occupation.

Now, however, there were multiple trees planted and artificial grass had been laid down in a small acre area. A huge crowd was gathered around something large covered in a white tarp. The Pelican landed near this area, swerving its tail around and descending. The man waited until the other marines got off the Pelican before hopping down the ramp. He said farewell to the marines and made sure his black dress uniform was crisp and his hat straight. He pulled the rim down just above his eyes. After he was done with this he then proceeded through the crowd.

In the sky to the North a CCS Battle Cruiser floated ominously. The man felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of the Loyalist. Though he quickly realized that this wasn't a threat as all the Loyalist were defeated and driven from Earth. This was a separatist crusier.

The crowd was mostly marines and navy personnel; although he saw a few ODST he could recognize that had been part of Alpha Company. He walked forward looking for a familiar face. He was sadly convinced he wouldn't find the ones he was looking for until someone shouted his name, "Hey Carmines. Carmines!"

Derrick Carmine turned and spotted his old teammate Alex Lombardi. The Demo man looked older then when Carmine had last seen him some four months ago. His most notable change was the metal prosthetic left forearm he had. Carmine had never saw Lombardi after the he left Echo Base to go after Dractus. The Italian ODST had been evaced to a military hospital nearby after the battle, although Carmine had heard the Demo man had lost his arm in battle.

Next to Lombardi was a pretty beautiful oriental woman. If memory served him correctly that was Lieutenant Aiko. He had thought she went MIA along with half the company during that disastrous drop into the city, apparently not.

Carmine walked up to Lombardi and the two former squad mates embraced. "How are you Alex?" Carmine asked looking over his friend. Lombardi lifted his left arm showing the prosthetic, "Never been better. Aiko and I are getting married." He motioned to Lt. Aiko to come forward.

She smiled a cute smile and said, "Yea me and Alexy are tying knots. I never thought I would have fallen for the asshole type." Carmine stifled a chuckle, "Alexy? So you guys became civilians eh?"

Lombardi gave him a stare, "Don't mock it you son of a…." Lombardi stopped mid sentence as he noticed the two chevrons on Carmines shoulder, "Corporal eh? Looks like you ain't a rookie no more." Derrick smiled, "Yea with the small amount of officers we have left, they were giving out promotions left and right to any one who had some combat experience."

Alex smiled patting his friend on the shoulder, "Well I am happy for ya. Look I know I wasn't the nicest guy to you but I cared for you all… and Jace would be proud of you."

Derrick shrugged. He paused for a second before asking his next question, "Where's the Gunny?" Lombardi grinned showing his white teeth, "Ole Gunny Fenix. That son of a bitch got promoted to Master Sergeant and given his own ODST Black Ops squad after he got back from the Ark. Last I heard he was hunting some rouge ODST over on Salamis III."

Carmine nodded, "Ah the Ark. That was one helluva battle."

Lombardi raised an eyebrow, "_You_ went to the Ark!" Derrick nodded, "Yup, though I would rather not talk about it now." Any further conversation was interrupted by Aiko, "Shut it you two, General Winters is about to speak."

"_General _Winters?"

Lombardi turned to the young trooper and smiled, "Like you said they were literally handing out promotions and if you participated in the Battle of Manhattan and survived you didn't go through hell for nothing. Old Colonel Winters was pumped up to Brigadier then Brigadier General pretty damn fast." Carmine nodded as Winters began his speech.

Winters still looked like his old self but instead he now had the eagle of a brigadier instead of the three colonel stars on his shoulder patch. He stood on a podium in front of the white tarp. Standing near him were familiar faces, Captain Morgan and the Sangheili Field Marshall Cur Kasamee in his maroon armor. Winters voice sounded relaxed and somber as he began, "The Battle of Manhattan will be remembered as a key battle within the Human Covenant War. The casualties sustained on both sides were tremendous and damage colossal. People would remember this battle as Seven days in Hell, because in all truth and recognition it was hell that all you brave men and woman went through. We will never know why the Loyalist chose to attack Manhattan. Was it for our resources? A distraction? Or was there a deeper purpose? That will remain a mystery. This battle had one significant positive. We were able to unite the Sangheili and Human forces under one rule to defeat the Loyalist forces. I will like to let field Marshall Kasamee have a few words now."

Applause met the Elite as he took to the podium, "Friends. Sangheili and humans we are her today to commemorate the sacrifices of many of my warriors and your own people. This will be a tremendous day in both our cultures as we both strive to make both our species survive and prosper. In a million years I would have never thought that I would join forces with you humans, but here today I find myself marveled at your ingenuity and spirit. Had it not been for you this battle would have surely been lost." He made his way to the tarp and along with Winters and Morgan the trio pulled the tarp down to reveal what was under it.

It was 20 foot tall bronze statues of an ODST armed with a Battle Rifle. A marine crouched below him firing at an unforeseen assailant. To the right of the marine a grunt charged a plasma pistol preparing to fire it. Above the grunt a Elite armed with a Energy Sword was giving a mighty roar as he prepared to charge his assailant. Below the statues on a large wall were hundreds if not thousands of names. Carmine could easily guess that these were the names of the deceased from the battle.

A chorus of cheers and applause met the sight. Carmine stared hard at the ODST and he could've sworn the words Born 2 kill were inscribed on the troopers' chest armor. Winters put up a hand to get silence. After everyone was silent he continued, "Now to award the ones who gave the most with the Medal of Honor and the Silver Cross." Winters began to read from a long list, calling out marine names that were being awarded medals. Many were posthumously and another squad mate or friend would accept the medal in the honor of the fallen. Carmine slowly began to zone out of the conversation and only when Winters mentioned Jacen Cole did the young ODST respond.

"Accepting the Medal of Honor is Jacen's honor will be Corporal Derrick Carmine," Winters seemed to be looking right at Carmine as he said that. Carmine made his way trough the crowd to the stage. He got up there and Winters placed the medal on his chest. It felt a little awkward and wrong that he was accepting the medal in his dead friends honor. Jace had done so much and really didn't to have the untimely death that he did.

He shook Winters hand and made his way back into the crowd. Winters finished up the list of honors and then dismissed everyone to observe the wall of the deceased. Winters turned to Cur. Raising a hand he said, "Thank you Cur. Will you be staying longer?"

The Field Marshall shook his head, "No friend. The Arbiter has called us back to Sanghelios. We need to make sure our home world is safe." Winters nodded his head, "I understand. Then I bid you a farewell and good luck to you."

"As of you friend." With that the two leaders went their separate ways.

Lombardi, Carmine and Aiko made their way among the crowd to get to the wall. As they were walking a scaly hand grabbed Carmines shoulder, "Carmine my Brother how are you?"

Carmine almost jumped when he recognized the voice, "Azo you son of a bitch, I thought you would of died a long time ago. How have you been?" The two grasped arms in a traditional Sangheili greeting (Don't ask how Carmine knows of it).

"Ah my friend I am doing better then normal," Carmine noticed as Azo spoke that his two left mandibles didn't move. _That's right;_ he thought to himself,_ Dractus had broken them when Azo and he fought. Weird that he hasn't had them fixed yet. _

After thinking about that faithful day when they set off to assassinate Dractus, he realized one important member of the group wasn't here, "Have you guys seen or heard about Ellie?" The whole group turned to Azo knowing if anyone had an answer it was him.

Azo shook his head, "I haven't spoken to Ellie since the day I left with Field Marshall Kasamee on the _Spirit of the Vanquished _to join the Separatist Fleet in going to the Ark."

"Are you to a thing?" Lombardi said straight forward. This got him an elbow nudge from Aiko, "What? You weren't there to see what I saw." Aiko rolled her eyes and walked away to observe the wall.

Azo shook his head again, "She admitted things, but simply put it out that we could never be together because of our… differences." The two ODST nodded understanding all too well.

The trio made their way over to the wall and began looking for familiar names. They found a few of their Alpha Company comrades. They saw Private First Class Henry A. Gibson and they saw Ricky Li. After seeing Ricky's name Lombardi was in tears. They made their way down the wall spying multiple names and even noticing that there were Elite and Grunt names written on it. Pictures of the deceased and flowers were placed at the bottom of the wall. Seeing the smiling faces of the dead made Carmine shudder.

There was so much hope and happiness in their eyes. Now they were dead. They were all dead. Carmine shook the thought off and continued on looking for Jace's name. He finally found it, but someone else was there already placing flowers down.

The person was a woman wearing all black and was wearing a hat that covered much of her face. As the trio of them approached the woman turned and they recognized who it was instantly.

"Ellie!" all three of them blurt out in unison. Ellie Torres stood before them. She looked greatly different from the way she looked almost half a year ago. Her hair had grown down past her shoulders onto her back. She looked aged and the scars she received were still prominent on her face. She was wearing a large coat that covered up most of her body.

"Hello guys," she said in a tired voice, "It's been a while."

"It sure has," Lombardi exclaimed, "You sort of dropped off the radar and we never heard anything from you or where you were." It was Carmine who elbowed Lombardi this time. "Come on Alex, lets go get some flowers to place in Jace's name." Lombardi realized what he was doing and said his farewell to Azo and Ellie and the two departed.

Azo turned to Ellie and said, "Ellie, I'm sorry if you felt we shouldn't be together. I know it was wrong for me to show feelings and attraction to you especially after Jace just died. It's just… that this is a first for me. My species doesn't show emotion that much and when we do, we try our best to cover it up… It's just I love you and I want you to be happy."

Ellie nodded, "Azo… I love you too, but I will always love Jace and nothing will ever change that." She hesitated before saying the next part, "There is another reason we couldn't be together…" She pulled back her coat to reveal what was under it. Azo's eyes went wide when he saw her stomach.

"Azo. I'm pregnant with Jace's baby."

**END**

**Well that's it. I hope this was a fun fanfic for you guys to read because it was fun for me to write. Also hope you like the ending, you never know, it might lead to a sequel. Well anyways that's it for now**

**xXChrisdabeastXx signing out. **


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